Subtle technical tweak — Rohit Sharma gives masterclass in playing spin in IPL Eliminator

Rohit Sharma gives masterclass in playing spin in IPL Eliminator (BCCI Photo)

For the first nine balls, Rohit Sharma was airy-fairy. He rode his luck, not once but twice. First, Prasidh Krishna hurried him on the pull and the top edge went high in the air to Gerald Coetzee at deep backward square leg. The South African dropped the sitter. Rohit was on three then. In the next over, Mohammed Siraj induced an outside edge and a straightforward chance went to Kusal Mendis - Jos Buttler's replacement in the playoffs - behind the stumps. The wicketkeeper bungled it. Rohit was on 12 then. It felt like in a knockout game, Gujarat Titans had stage fright.

These are the occasions that separate the big match players, with big temperament, from the lesser ones. As GT's catching fizzled, Rohit started to sizzle. The first signs of him getting into the groove came via a lofted drive over mid-off against Siraj. But Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance aside, Rohit's batting against the spinners, Sai Kishore in particular, was the highlight of the IPL Eliminator.

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Until this game, Sai had a pretty good tournament, with 17 wickets from 14 group league matches. Rohit schooled him through subtle technical tweaks. A minor foot adjustment and a change in his trigger movement did the trick for the former Mumbai Indians captain. Instead of a forward press he opted for a back foot trigger movement, forcing Sai to change his length. His foot adjustment prompted the GT tweaker to alter his line as well and target middle-and-leg to start with.

Sai angled one in on middle-and-leg. Rohit brought out the sweep and sent the ball several rows back over the deep square leg boundary. The bowler went wider and bowled his next delivery outside off. The MI opener bent down on one knee and swept it to the deep square leg fence. Another sweep followed, and this time the ball went behind square for another four. Rohit was revelling in his range. It was sublime batting.

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Rashid Khan found his rhythm at the other end. Something special was needed to unsettle him. An inside-out cover drive over extra cover did the job. The leg-spinner changed his line, but Rohit swept the delivery from outside off and sent it over the deep backward square leg boundary. It took him to 7,000 IPL runs. The veteran was giving a masterclass in playing spin.

This has been a strange IPL for Rohit. He mostly played as an Impact Sub and barring three half-centuries during the group phase, he was subdued coming into the Eliminator. But in a win-or-bust game, he once again led by example. His 81 off 50 balls and an 84-run opening stand with Jonny Bairstow - he was excellent, coming from the County Championship - in less than eight overs set the game up for MI. The five-time IPL champions won by 20 runs to move to Qualifier 2.