Rohit Sharma has made a habit of hitting sixes without the brute muscle power of an Andre Russell or a Chris Gayle
Image: Mexy Xavier
Scoring nine runs off six balls in any T20 tournament is not a Herculean task. In the Indian Premier League (IPL), especially, where bowlers are sent on a leather hunt, it is par for the course. That’s exactly what defending champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) would have thought before the last over of the IPL final against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Hyderabad. Veteran Aussie Shane Watson, who had reserved his best for the big occasion, was at the crease. Skipper MS Dhoni was sitting in the team dugout, displaying no signs of nerves. On an exciting Sunday evening in May, the ‘yellow army’ was cheering lustily for CSK to lift the trophy for a record fourth time.
What happened, though, was not normal. MI captain Rohit Sharma handed the ball over to Sri Lankan pace genius Lasith Malinga, who was hammered for 20 runs in his third over and a dozen in his second. The commentators were stunned; MI fans at the stadium, with over 39,000 spectators, were aghast; and millions of TV viewers found the move absurd. Sharma, it seemed, had cracked under pressure.
(This story appears in the 07 June, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)