Mohit Sharma has been the find of the tournament as a third seamer and figures up there in the incredible makeover that team India’s bowling unit has had in this World Cup. Sharma has not just made a difference in the bowling unit but also in how India has been fielding. He has figured in two run-outs, one being AB de Villiers and the other Marlon Samuels. He has caught Chris Gayle among others and has earned kudos from skipper MS Dhoni for being an impactful bowler-fielder.
Coming in as a replacement to Ishant Sharma, Mohit has done his job as a middle overs bowler with apt pace, bounce and line, not allowing the batsmen room to victimise him. “Ishant helped me a lot. He told me what length to bowl with the new ball and what length to take with the old ball,” Mohit says at Hamilton where India plays its penultimate match of the group stage against Ireland.
What has also helped is the time spent with other pacers, sharing experiences and learning from them. “We all four-five fast bowlers spend a lot of time together sharing our experiences and discussing our bowling, that helped a lot,” Mohit says.
The Indian bowling unit, mauled by the Australians and England in the Test and Triseries preceding the World Cup, has earned a fearful reputation in the tournament, bowling out all the four opponents India has faced thus far, and much within the 50 overs. Dhoni has praised Mohit as one of those few pacers in world cricket who has the ability to take wickets on bouncers.
“If one is a fast bowler, he is bound to bowl bouncers,” he says with a laugh. But on a more serious note, “going by my built no one expects that my ball will bounce and skid so much. It bounces but skids very fast and that’s a plus point for me. It is unexpected for the batsmen. Sometimes it takes the top edge or they get beaten. Of course, it has also been hit for fours and six, so there is a chance in every area,” Mohit acknowledges.
His built and reputation has dodged not just in bowling but also in throwing the ball, as Du Plessis mentioned after India defeated South Africa. “AB did not expect his throw to be so good. He saw it was a bowler and took him on. Mohit threw it perfectly. If it was a different fielder, like Ravindra Jadeja, we would not have run,” Du Plessis said.
Mohit, Dhoni’s team-mate in Chennai Super Kings, has been regularly drafted by his IPl skipper in the playing 11 and entrusted the job to bowl the line in powerplays, which he has done perfectly. At the World Cup too his job, he says, is pretty simple.
“Shami and Umesh build up so much pressure for the batsmen in the beginning that it helps me a lot in the middle overs. My job is to maintain that pressure so that Ashwin and Jadeja can take the benefit from that later on. I get a lot of help if Shami and Umesh bowl well because the batsmen then are already in pressure. I have to work only on my strength, concentrate on my line and length and bowl according to the wicket,” he says, talking about Team India’s new buzzword “hunting in a pack.”
Mohit came in late but says has had enough time to acclimatise to the conditions. “In the Triseries, I got 18-20 days which are enough to understand the conditions. Then I worked hard at nets so not too much of an adjustment problem,” says Mohit who has earned his spot over Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
“As a unit, we have performed very well. There’s no limit to doing well but yes, we are still to come under pressure in the slog overs,” which, he admits, is a keen possibility in the smaller grounds in New Zealand. He admits, smaller grounds, like the ones in New Zealand, “do impact a bowler’s mindset. He has to change his line. But you cannot think about it too much and get disturbed. It is there for both the teams so we need to concentrate on our strength and do well,” he says.
Mohit may not be as fast as Shami and Umesh but being a stickler to accuracy has paid off, something that Hashim Amla would know. “Mohit has been consistent with his line and length, which is key for him. He has that variation of pace. He uses the bounce so well,” Dhoni said earlier.
The Haryana lad has learnt this consistency watching lasith Malinga though his idol remains the much faster Dale Steyn. Mohit, however, is more about those deadly slower ones which come with deception. During the IPl, he used to study Malinga’s bowling often as also how the Sri lankan, despite the awkward action, varied the pace and was never afraid of throwing bouncers at a new batsman.
Mohit is doing the same now. Bowling at around 135 km/hr consistently, he maintains his line, length and accuracy whatever be the conditions and whoever be the batsman. He has modified his bowling action on Fletcher’s advice, not throwing his body too backwards while bowling. He has also learnt from Andy Bichel how to bowl in conditions Down Under, the most important among them being to know how to pick the batsman to bowl a slower one, a bouncer or the short stuff.
Even Stephen Fleming is impressed by the Mohit show. Playing backyard cricket on the Hobbiton Movie set the other evening, he said: “Since Ishant Sharma went home, there was probably a sigh that you’re going to get undone in the fast bowling, but I’ve seen Mohit’s development closely. His work with Andy Bichel was impressive. I think he’s just fit and strong and his emotion with the World Cup performances against Pakistan was great for the Indian side to get started and win,” he said.
Indeed, it has got his team a good crop of wickets and helped keep the scoring rate of the opposition at bay. Mohit has so far taken six wickets in four games at an impressive average of 19.50 and bowled four maidens. Going into the knockouts, that’s a good enough platform.