IPL 2023, GT vs DC Emotional Rollercoaster: Sharma denies Tewatia another he, perfect knuckle ball, Shami has DC on the mat

Ishant grins, GT bear a loss
As Ishant Sharma was setting the field for the last over, Delhi captain David Warner walked up to him and patted him on his back. Sharma grinned, as though he knew he would defend the 11 runs that would seal a famous win. And so it unfolded. He produced no magic ball, or one that would linger when you wake up the next morning, but he did what was required. He got away with a full toss, which Hardik Pandya could only swipe for a double. The next two balls were wide full balls, from which they managed just a run. The pressure soaring, Tewatia perished. A smile was back on Warner’s face. But Rashid Khan is canny of hitting boundaries, and he almost did but for Rilee Rossouw taking the sting out of the shot. A Miandad moment beckoned Rashid. A full toss ensued. But it was so wide and Rashid had made up his mind to swing through the leg-side and all he could manage was to mis-slice the ball over backward point for just a single. Sharma quietly looked skywards before he was stormed his ecstatic teammates.
-Sandip G

Tewatia falls short, for once
Three successive sixes evoked his much-deserved moniker of the Ice-Man, and thereafter one would have expected Rahul Tewatia to finish the job getting 12 off the last over. But the law of averages finally caught up with the left-hander and with skipper Hardik Pandya not being his free-flowing self, all fell on Tewatia’s shoulders. He has done it on numerous occasions over the past few seasons, but mostly in tandem with David Miller, who didn’t fire earlier in the innings. A ball outside his strike zone resulted in a dot ball, as the review in the hop of a wide went futile. And on the next delivery came a knuckle ball, which deceived Tewatia’s big wind-up. The slower length ball on the fifth stump could only result in an easy catch to Rilee Rossouw inside the circle, as Delhi stayed alive.

When the whole Delhi 🔥 pic.twitter.com/AoGv9IPBZ2
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 2, 2023
-Tushar Bhaduri

Sharma denies Tewatia another he
David Warner flashed a smile at Anrich Nortje. The faces in Delhi’s dugout looked calm and relaxed. The South African’s first three balls of the penultimate over were either yorkers to low-flying full-tosses, the Titans managing just three runs. The equation now read 30 runs from 9 balls. And then just like that, Rahul Tewatia performed a Rahul Tewatia, striking the next three balls for six. Until that ball, Nortje seemed un-hittable. But the fourth ball turned out to be a knee-high full toss that Tewatia smeared over deep square leg fielder. The next ball, fullish on leg-stump, was wafted over midwicket. Nortje, the unflappable, drooping mustachioed South Africa, lost his poise and fed him another full, this time in the fourth-fifth stump that Tewatia smacked over wide long-on. The asking rate then dipped to 12 off six balls, and it took Ishant Sharma to produce a last-over masterclass to deny Tewatia of another he.
-Sandip G

Perfect knuckle ball
Ishant Sharma seems to have spent his IPL wilderness months polishing his white-ball variations. Against Gujarat Titans, he unleashed a sumptuous knuckle ball to fox Vijay Shankar. The deception, as with most cleverly-crafted variations, lies in disguise. The seam position until the load-up is the standard one, the index and middle fingers wrapped straight over the seam and the ring finger under the ball. He gives the batsman, in case he is looking for clues, a full view of the ball. But just as he loads up, the fingers diverge and he loosens his grip on the ball. At the time of the delivery, the ball is nestled between his index finger and middle finger. There is no discernible change in his arm-speed and the ball almost floats from his hand. Length is another key aspect, in that it has to be full to deceive the batsman. It turned out to be the perfect knuckle-ball, floating, dipping and swerving away a wee bit to completely confound Vijay Shankar, who was way too early into his flick. Sharma let out a proud glee.

to break the “https:///” pic.twitter.com/dhrAv6wHdW
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 2, 2023
-Sandip G

A massive DRS howler
Soon after Aman Hakim Khan completed his half-century, mostly with orthodox shots, he attempted a cute reverse scoop off Mohit Sharma. He missed the ball altogether and the ball trimmed his back-leg. The bowler hardly appealed, not even looking towards the umpire. So was the wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha, utterly disinterested. But the captain Hardik Pandya, fielding at short third-man, immediately signaled for a review with characteric gusto , without consulting with either the bowler or the keeper. It turned out to be an embarrassment. The ball pitched probably on the fifth stump and seamed away a fraction to hit him probably on the sixth stump. The third umpire took hardly half a minute to dismiss the review. Pandya was in splits though, as he watched the review on the on-ground screen; Sharma too had a laugh, though Saha looked less amused. As far as DRS howlers go, this would be in contention for a podium finish.
-Sandip G

Shami has DC on the mat
Mohammed Shami had a tendency to suddenly go off the boil in Test cricket or unexpectedly bowl with verve in another spell. The T20 format does not give him the luxury to find his rhythm. Shami was sharp as ever after the first ball he bowled — way outside off which luckily resulted in the wicket of DC opener Phil Salt. The Englishman smashed the ball straight to David Miller. For the rest of his three-over spell, Shami bowled with an upright seam position and it paid dividends. A couple of deliveries swung more than he wanted but when he got it right, which was the case more often than not, he had the batsmen in a bind. Priyam Garg failed to negotiate the slight late movement and struggled to put bat to the ball; Rilee Rossouw, Manish Pandey and later Garg all tried to drive but the late movement got all three of them with wicketkeeper Wridhiman Saha making no errors behind the stumps. Four overs, 11 runs and four wickets read Shami’s figures. Shami single-handedly had DC on the mat the end of the seventh over.

🇲‌🇴‌🇭‌🇦‌🇲‌🇲‌🇦‌🇩‌⚡🇭‌🇦‌🇲‌🇮‌: 4️⃣-0️⃣-1️⃣1️⃣-4️⃣ 🔥⚡
🫡#AavaDe | #TATAIPL 2023 | #GTvDC pic.twitter.com/5Iyz31H75Z
— Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) May 2, 2023
-Nihal Koshie

Swing bowling transcending formats
Rilee Rossouw had half an idea of what was to come. The previous ball from Mohammed Shami had nibbled away a fraction after landing on good length and he ill-advisedly looked to flick and escaped with a leading edge. Shami, striving for the away-goer to the left-handed Rossouw, had missed the line a fraction. But any batsman worth his salt would know that Shami would bowl an identical one with the line more on the off-stump or wider. But Shami did better. He went a bit wider of the crease to exaggerate the angle, bowled this one a bit fuller, leaving him with no other alternative but to prod at the ball. But the beauty of the ball was the extra arc of swing he purchased. Rossouw was playing for the angle across him and had the ball reasonably covered, until the ball swung away a fraction and grazed his out-side. It would have been the perfect delivery to a left-hander in any format of the game—that’s the beauty of Shami’s bowling too. His bowling transcends formats. And this season he has swung the new ball more than he has in the previous editions (.9 degree to .7 in the previous edition and .5 in 2021).
-Sandip G