Mohit Sharma had worked hard behind the scenes to ensure he was ready for his moment when it arrived, ready to make it his own.
IPL 2023 has a vintage feel to it. MS Dhoni has a strike rate of more than 200. Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, and Karn Sharma are picking up wickets and reminding everyone that no squad is complete without a chubby legspinner.
Thursday night in Mohali was another throwback. Gujarat Titans were coming off a shocking setback in which one of their promising quicks, Yash Dayal, was blasted for five consecutive sixes in the final over. They took Dayal out of the firing line for this game against Punjab Kings and replaced him with a 34-year-old who last played in the IPL in 2018. He’d only played one game in 2019, one in 2020, and nothing in between.
Mr. Mohit Sharma. In 2014, the Purple Cap was awarded. In 2015, they reached the World Cup semi-finals. He had been absent from our television screens for years, and suddenly he was back.
He was back, and from afar, he appeared to be the same bowler he had always been. He was doing what he’d always done, and he was doing it well.
Mohali provided an intriguing surface for this game, with Titans captain Hardik Pandya later remarking that it was a hard pitch where the new ball came on to the bat brilliantly, but it was so hard that it rapidly roughened up and softened the ball. This meant that when Mohit came on in the 11th over of Punjab’s innings, the ball was in the perfect form to act erratically off the pitch.
Mohit is a natural at exploiting such volatility. He hits an awkward, bail-trimming length that is too short to drive on the up and too short to pull. And he’s always been good at reaching that length while changing up his variations – on tempo, with the seam erect or scrambling, or off pace, with the seam delivered as an offcutter or out of the back of the hand.
“I had back surgery, and a lot of people weren’t sure if I had played enough domestic cricket [to be signed at the auction],” Mohit explained during a Star Sports interview between innings. “I got a call from Ashu bhai saying that I should be with the team and that if anyone got hurt, I’d get a chance.”
“Obviously, if you want to improve your cricket in any way, you need competitive practice.” What was I going to do sitting at home? Instead, I was here conducting competitive preparation; I kept myself connected with cricket, and I believe that was a fantastic period for me.”
“I had back surgery, and a lot of people weren’t sure if I had played enough domestic cricket [to be signed at the auction],” Mohit explained during a Star Sports interview between innings. “I got a call from Ashu bhai saying that I should be with the team and that if anyone got hurt, I’d get a chance.”
“Obviously, if you want to improve your cricket in any way, you need competitive practice.” What was I going to do sitting at home? Instead, I was here conducting competitive preparation; I kept myself connected with cricket, and I believe that was a fantastic period for me.”
“I had back surgery, and a lot of people weren’t sure if I had played enough domestic cricket [to be signed at the auction],” Mohit explained during a Star Sports interview between innings. “I got a call from Ashu bhai saying that I should be with the team and that if anyone got hurt, I’d get a chance.”
“Obviously, if you want to improve your cricket in any way, you need competitive practice.” What was I going to do sitting at home? Instead, I was here conducting competitive preparation; I kept myself connected with cricket, and I believe that was a fantastic period for me.”
You’d think a cricketer of Mohit’s caliber and stature would object to being a net bowler, but he didn’t.
“It’s not such a bad thing to be a net bowler,” he says. “You get a lot of exposure, you get to play with great players, and if you don’t do competitive practice, your cricket will stagnate.”
Mr. Mohit Sharma. He’d almost vanished from our television screens for years, but he’d never truly vanished. He’d worked hard behind the scenes to ensure he was ready for his time, ready to seize it.
