Home
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 witnessed its first thriller on March 24. Delhi Capitals (DC) staged a terrific comeback to stun Lucknow Super Giants as they won by one wicket with three balls to spare. DC needed six runs in the final over but the set batter was on the non-striker's end. The no.11 batter Mohit Sharma has enough experienced under his belt but he almost crumbled under pressure. He got a lucky escape as Rishabh Pant missed a stumping. But, Mohit took his batting career's most important single to get Ashutosh Sharma on strike. After the thrilling win, he revealed how confident 'impact player' Ashutosh was before hitting Shahbaz Ahmed for a six.
"Maine baad me use bola diya 'ek ball dunga, chakka maar lega?'. Keh raha 'Haan, maar lunga'. Fir 4 ball dot karne de. Chal aage ab to aur hone de. Chal, ab chal ho gaya ab. Final nahi hua abhi (I told him 'I'll give you one ball, will you be able to hit a six?' He said, 'Yes, I will.'. I said then I'll play 4 dot balls. Let's go, it's over now. [It's just the first match] This was not the final.)" Mohit told his teammate Sameer Rizvi in a video posted by the franchise.
Du Plessis compares Mohit to Ntini
DC vice-captain Faf du Plessis anxiously watched the game from the dugout. The 40-year-old lauded Mohit and compared the single to that of Makhaya Ntini's single to get Mark Boucher on strike in the record-breaking highest ODI run chase against Australia in 2006 at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
"Reminded me a lot of the 438 game against Australia when Makhaya Ntini got 1 at the end. That's the most important single that Mohit has got in his life, beautiful forward defence," Du Plessis told the broadcasters after the match.
Pant on missing Mohit's stumping
On the other hand, LSG captain Pant considers himself unlucky that he missed the ball.
"Definitely luck plays a part in this game and if it could have missed his (Mohit Sharma's) pads, it was a chance for stumping. But these things happen in the game of cricket, you can't focus on these things, but rather you need to play better cricket," Pant said after the match.
Before the famous single, Mohit was not impressive with the ball. He conceded 42 runs from his quota of four overs incuding two sixes off the last two balls of LSG's innings.
