Ahmedabad: Veteran pacer Mohit Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for Gujarat Titans’ in their seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad via his brilliant 3-25. On receiving the Player of the Match award, Mohit said it is important for someone operating in the back end of the innings to see how to use variations as per the game situation.
“Practice is normal, but the important thing is how to use the variation according to the game situation. Bowlers do have variations but it matters when and how to use it. It’s important when you have two balls in mind, the batters are also ready, they are ready for the slower bouncer, but they are not ready for the slower short ball wide of the wicket, so I mix and match,” he said after the match ended.
Mohit was impressive with his cutters and slower deliveries, including offering great control in the back end of the innings to keep SRH to a below-par 162/8. Operating in overs 17-20 for Gujarat Titans since joining their camp in the IPL, Mohit has picked 17 wickets at an economy rate of 8.13, including 41 dot balls.
In Ahmedabad, he had Abhishek Sharma mistiming to cover, before coming back in the final over to have Shahbaz Ahmed holing out to long-on off a slower delivery and Impact Player Washington Sundar pulling straight to deep mid-wicket on consecutive deliveries, while conceding only three runs.
“Dew is uncontrollable, and we practice bowling with a wet ball. When it’s going good, I enjoy it. When the match is over, I like to reflect on where I did well and where I didn’t. Rashid and Noor bowled well, we went for a few runs in the back end, but we came back well in the final few overs,” he added.
In chasing 163, Sai Sudarshan overcame a slow start on a two-paced pitch to make 45 off 36 balls, while David Miller fought through pain in his leg to be unbeaten on 44 off 27 deliveries. The duo never panicked during their crucial 64-run stand for the third wicket to help GT get over the line in the last over of the chase.
“I’m happy that my contribution helped the team win, so definitely happy. It was a difficult wicket to play the fast bowlers, bowling into the pitch was hard to score off, so we decided to target that one over of spin.”
“Great contributions from Mohit bhai and Rashid bhai, picked crucial wickets and restricted the target by around 10-15 runs. Playing in front of the home crowd is a plus point for us. Everyone wants to get more runs, I just want to contribute my best, milestones will happen by themselves,” he said on his performance and missing out on a fifty by just five runs,
ith two wins from both of its home matches, IPL 2022 winners GT will next host the Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday evening.
–IANS