NEW DELHI: “DC ke saarein khatam ho gaye hain, sahab (Sir, the DC ones are all sold out),” sighs an agitated jersey seller outside the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
He wasn’t alone.
On a crowded Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, vendors echoed the same tone as Delhi Capitals jerseys had vanished from the shelves — a mere representation of the team’s unbeaten run in the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
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With DC jerseys in short supply, neutrals, who had just arrived to enjoy a game of IPL on Sunday evening, opted for what hadn’t run out of stock yet: a Mumbai Indians jersey with “Rohit” embedded on the back.
Inside the stadium, when Jasprit Bumrah was teaching the iconic helicopter shot to Will Jacks, Rohit kept his warm-up light.
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He was seen chatting with DC physio Patrick Farhart, a familiar face from his Team India days.
The crowd cheered the loudest when the announcer confirmed Rohit’s presence in the MI XI after Delhi won the toss and chose to bat.
Opening the innings, Rohit took strike against Mitchell Starc, who operated from the Gautam Gambhir Stand end.
For the first couple of overs, he focused on playing it with soft hands and rotating strike, facing just two balls for two runs.
But it was Ryan Rickelton’s explosive hitting that seemed to spark something in Rohit.
In Starc’s second over, Rohit joined the party, smacking 14 runs off the 19-run over — flashes of his vintage T20 World Cup Super 8s innings against Australia came to being.
However, the fire fizzled quickly.
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While Mukesh Kumar’s pace troubled him in the following over, and 20-year-old leggie Vipraj Nigam brought his innings to an end with a sharp delivery that caught the former skipper off guard.
An LBW shout and a subsequent review drew the first blood at 47. Keeping his head down, Rohit walked off with 18 off 12.
It was yet another short stay this season: 0, 8, 13, 17, and now 18.
There’s a slow upward trend, and Rohit will be hoping to break free from this streak in the games ahead.
A day before the match, Rohit had kept the lights on at the Arun Jaitley nets longer than anyone else.
Mumbai Indians arrived first for training at around 5:30 PM, and while DC wound up early, Rohit had only just begun his session.
Earlier in the evening, he was mostly observing, quietly going through fitness routines. With his knee strapped, many assumed he wouldn’t bat.
But he eventually geared up, put on the pads. After some solo knocking on one side of the ground, he headed to the nets.
Interestingly, Rohit, however, didn’t face any bowlers: only a 30-minute round of throwdown. Thus, the training session, which was supposed to end at 8:30 PM, concluded thirty minutes later.
Even then, the trademark big hits were missing. None of his big hits cleared the boundary and reached the stands. The signs of struggle were clear.
Backed by strong batting displays from Rickelton (41), Suryakumar Yadav (40), Tilak (59), and Naman Dhir (38 not out), MI reached 205/5.
Rohit Sharma showed glimpses of agility before making way for impact sub Karn Sharma, who turned the tide with a match-defining 3/36, dismissing the in-form Karun Nair (89) and swinging momentum MI’s way.
An edge-of-the-seat finish saw three successive run-outs as Delhi were bowled out for 193 in 19 overs.
What followed was the blue wave of celebration as it secured Mumbai’s second win in six games. Now, whether this sparks a turnaround in their IPL season remains to be seen.
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