Before Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, there was a big question mark on whether Mohsin Khan will play or not. Mohsin was yet to regain full fitness after undergoing surgery. After a fantastic debut IPL season, he was considered a future star for India and there were calls to fast-track him into the Indian side. However, everything took a back seat when he got injured.
Nearly a year later, the left-arm pacer made a comeback but was expensive against defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT). In his next match, he repaid the captain’s faith by defending 10 runs off the final over against Mumbai Indians (MI) big-hitter Tim David and Cameron Green.
Mohsin not just defended 10 runs in the last over but he conceded just five runs against two of the most destructive batters in the world. The left-arm pacer nailed the yorkers sublimely while he varied his pace with great disguise. Mohsin finished the game with figures of 1/26 in three overs.
After leading his side to victory, Mohsin earned immense praise from IPL's greatest fast bowler, Lasith Malinga. The former Sri Lankan pacer, who finished his IPL career with 170 wickets in just 122 matches, took note of Mohsin's performance and touted him as the one to look out for in the future.
"I’m impressed by the composure and patience shown by Mohsin Khan in that last over. Not an easy task even for an experienced bowler. Saw some really good performances from him in the last season as well. Definitely a one for the future," Malinga said in a Tweet.
Mohsin thanked the LSG support staff for trusting him even though he didn't bowl well in the previous match against the Titans. The left-arm pacer spoke at length about how he managed to outfox the two Aussie batters in the middle in last over under tremendous pressure.
"I'm grateful to the team and the support staff, Gautam (Gambhir) sir, Vijay (Dahiya) sir for playing me this game even though I did not do well last game,” the 24-year-old said after the game.
“The plan was to execute what I did in practice and I executed. Even Krunal was talking to me and I told him the same. The run-up is the same, did not change it in the last over. I was trying to calm myself down, not look at the scoreboard and bowl the 6 balls well. Since the wicket was gripping, I tried the slower ball, but I bowled two of those and then changed to the yorker and it was reversing as well,” he explained how he approached the final over.
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