Rohit hits a six for the Rhinos His season has been abysmal but at least Rohit Sharma can get out of this edition satisfied that he did his bit for his favourite Rhinos. Last year, he had worn a shoe with a text, “Great one-horned Rhinoceros” in a game to highlight the protection and preservation needed for the magnificent beast. Tonight, he went one-up, walloping a most delicious pull over midwicket and the ball ricocheted off the fence on to the sponsored car placed on a small podium. Tata, the official sponsors, have said if a ball lands on it, they will donate 500000 rs towards preservation of Rhinos in Kaziranga in Assam. Next over, off Mohammad Shami, he went down on his knee to lap-tap a length delivery outside off for a six over fine-leg. Every now and then, he punctuates his twitter feed with posts about Rhino conservation. One ran, “ndia has only 3500 #rhinos left in the wild!” Hopefully he can land a few more sixes to help the cause. From comic self-harm to puncturing Rohit’s joy Just an over before, Rashid Khan lay sprawled on the ground, in a comic tangle, after hitting himself with a throw. It was a splendid achievement, straight out of those viral “village cricket” videos, worth a look at the replay, just as he himself did on the big screen. He had just fielded a ball in the ring, was tumbling backwards, legs up as he went for an ambitious throw. The ball landed on his upraised legs, and everyone cracked up on the field, including the batsmen, but particularly Rashid and his captain Hardik Pandya. Next over he ripped a loopy topspinner to Rohit, who tried a reverse paddle, missed, and a back-pedalling Rashid screamed out his appeal. Seeing the umpire unmoved, he signalled his captain to go for DRS, which Pandya duly obliged with an exaggerated bowed gesture. The replays confirmed Rashid’s joy, and he flashed a perfect smile that his dentist would be proud off. On the other hand, Rohit, who was looking so good for a change, had to trudge off in utter disappointment. ✅ Batting ✅ Bowling ✅ Fielding ✅ Comedy Things Rashid bhai does to bring a smile to our faces. pic.twitter.com/jx6wpUiRgu — Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) May 6, 2022 Sams has one (almost) wide to rule them all It seemed easy peasy with 8 runs from 5 balls but Rahul Tewatia let the next ball from left-handed seamer Daniel Sams go through for a wide. Only it wasn’t. It just about dinked around the wide line and he was a bit exasperated at the call that it was legal. Still 8 from 4, surely doable? Sams produced a lovely slower one next ball, from short of length, and Tewatia bunted it to deep midwicket and turned for two. He should have tried diving back inside the crease because he was caught just short of the crease when Ishan Kishan lit up the LED bails. Enter yet another cool cat finisher from Gujarat Titans - - Rashid Khan. He got another slower ball from short of length which he swatted towards untenanted mid-off and Sams made a valiant effort to get to it, stretched out his hands but when he closed it, found just air and some dirt. In the dug out, Ashish Nehra, Gujarat’s bowling coach, as he has done through the chase, was muttering non-stop to anyone who dared to trespass his space. WHAT. A. WIN! 👏 👏 What a thriller of a game we have had at the Brabourne Stadium-CCI and it's the @ImRo45-led @mipaltan who have sealed a 5⃣-run victory over #GT. 👌 👌 Scorecard ▶️ #TATAIPL | #GTvMI pic.twitter.com/F3UwVD7g5z — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 6, 2022 Now, with 6 from 2, Sams managed to reprise the same delivery with which he had fooled Tewatia: that wide delivery which isn’t a wide. Miller swung, missed and winced at the dot ball. Last ball, six needed. Sams produced a Bravo-type slower ball, this time - the dipping full toss well outside off stump. Miller swung, sliced through thin air, and the ball winked through to the keeper. Mumbai fielders went beserk. Rohit Sharma’s wife couldn’t stop laughing, and the actor Ranveer Singh was screaming his head off in the stands. On air, in the Gujarati commentary, the host let out an anguished cry "haatni match, haatni match" (it was in the hands). Oh well.
