Gujarat Titans' Mohit Sharma bowls during the IPL 2023 cricket match between Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans, at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, Thursday, April 13, 2023. (PTI) It was last year during a catch up with his pupil in Gurgaon that former India wicketkeeper Vijay Yadav asked him the big question. Was the interest in cricket as a player all dried up? Was coaching the sensible next step? “Nahi sir, ek saal aur try karunga (will try for one more year),”pat came the reply from Mohit Sharma.
The 2014 IPL purple cap holder and 2015 World Cup semi finalist had not played for India in over seven years and went unsold in the 2022 IPL auction after not featuring in the 2021 season as well. During the 2020 edition in UAE, the pacer had flown back home ahead of the playoffs following the demise of his father. With Delhi Capitals, he had featured in just one game that season. A back surgery a year ago. The once envied match fitness was lost. Coach Yadav recalls the sole outing for Delhi in IPL 2020. “He knew he wasn’t match fit and that he had returned to the game a little early. So he decided to work on his fitness and then return,” the coach based in Faridabad tells The Indian Express.
“He was very sure of himself after that. Whenever I used to call him, he’d be in training.” And then came the call that led him to his first IPL wicket in three years time. Two on the night, and a player of the match award. “I got a call from Ashu pa to stay with the team (Gujarat Titans, as a net bowler), and if someone gets injured I’d get a chance,” Sharma would share after the game on Thursday. “I felt, what am I going to do sitting at home? I was here and doing competitive practice instead.”
A special day, a special debut, and a special chat with our Player of the Match, Mohit Sharma 💙 Here’s what he had to share after yesterday’s win against PBKS in Mohali.#AavaDe | #PBKSvGT | #TATAIPL 2023 pic.twitter.com/loRwN6jTmP
— Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) April 14, 2023
The franchise’s analyst, Sandeep Raju had known the pacer from his time with the Haryana team.
“When I spoke to Sandeep, he said, ‘Boss, aajkal ke ladko mai guts hai hi nahi. To leave behind their ego and do this’,” Yadav recalls.
“That was the time when I realized he was going to do something because you try and understand, someone who’s played for India, someone who’s played the World Cup, do you think he’ll go and bowl in the nets just for the heck of being a net bowler? He had a plan. He wanted to prove himself to the people who’d seen him play. That he was still here.”
An entire campaign as a nets bowler with the eventual IPL champions rewarded Sharma with a promotion to the squad in IPL 2023. For Gujarat, the need for a change in the pace attack arrived after 25-year-old Yash Dayal was smeared for five sixes in the last over of their third game leading to a last ball defeat. On the eve of their fourth fixture, Sharma’s phone pinged around 2-2:30 at night. ‘You’re in,’ read the message from head coach Ashish Nehra.
CSK days and clarity
There’s no doubt that from 2013 to 2015, Sharma lived his best cricketing days, yet. “Actually. The craze he had for the game back then, he didn’t know what life was going to throw at him. He had established himself in the IPL, playing for CSK,” his coach shares.
Mohit Sharma featured in three seasons for CSK and also made his India debut under MS Dhoni. (File photo)
There’s a ‘unique clarity in the decisions Sharma has made over the past years. “For (MS) Dhoni to look at his capabilities as a bowler, and recognise them…he helped him. I remember whenever I used to call him before games he’d go, ‘Sir, today I will put my 200 percent effort in the match’. In ODI cricket, the right-arm medium took 31 wickets in 26 matches and was only the second Indian after Sandeep Patil to bag a player of the match award on his debut.
A constant that has been with Sharma’s bowling is how simple he’s kept things. “I would only suggest to him to cater to his line and length and not overdo anything. The other night, he did the same.”
Sharma was introduced into attack with Punjab three down for 75 after 10 overs on a wicket that became tougher to bat on as the ball got dried up. Perfect stage set for an experienced who could nail yorkers and had a good stock of slower deliveries up his sleeves. The two wickets the 34-year-old picked were with the slower ones under a rising run rate pressure on a wicket that seemed like a belter. To Jitesh Sharma in his second over, he bowled back of a length and just outside off. Going for a punch, the Punjab keeper/batter was deceived by the pace being withdrawn and nicked one behind for Wriddhiman Saha to collect. To Sam Curran, Sharma would go short, slow and outside off, generating almost a tennis ball-like bounce as the England all-rounder holed out to the fielder at deep mid-wicket.
“I was waiting for a long time to get this opportunity. To get to execute for the team what I’ve been doing in the nets,” Sharma would say. “I was given a role to bowl after 10 overs. Credit goes to the coach who has defined everyone’s role in the team.”
His coach from Faridabad would give in to the emotions of Sharma’s journey, “After his surgery, he has screws in his back. And then he made a comeback. Not at 50 but 100 percent. To be honest, this time, I didn’t even speak about cricket to him. He just told me he was leaving (for the league) and I said, ‘All the best’. You don’t want to unnecessarily speak a lot ahead of the tournament. Only a few have such clarity.”
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