Rohit Sharma can easily be misunderstood, and he often is. He’s got that nonchalant swagger about him. It’s not cocky or condescending. For some it might border on brashness. But at the crux of it, you realize it’s just the confidence he has in his abilities, deservedly so. And it can come through in his batting as well. It’s very difficult to make out what Rohit’s going through or feeling when he’s at the crease, regardless of match situation or scenario. He doesn’t give much away. But somehow you know he’s in control, especially in white-ball cricket. It can perhaps be annoying for his detractors. It certainly is unnerving for his opponents, especially the one who’s tasked with running in with ball in hand. Like Shardul Thakur was when he ran in for his final over at Pune on Saturday.

Chennai Super Kings had just clawed their way back into the contest. Mumbai, desperate to win, had been in front for most parts of their run-chase. But two economical overs from Thakur and Dwayne Bravo — where they’d gone for 10 runs between them and accounted for the well-set but struggling Evin Lewis — had meant that the pressure had shifted to the Mumbai camp. Shane Watson had then been taken for 15 runs in the 18th over, but Chennai still held the aces with Thakur bowling the 19th over and 22 still required.

With most other batsmen you could have sensed a twitch, or at least a tinge of urgency. But Rohit looked as Rohit as ever. He was giving nothing away. It meant that the onus was on Thakur to make the play and take the punt. His first delivery to Rohit was a brazen gamble — wide attempted yorker with the thirdman and fine backward point in the circle. It turned out to be a low full-toss that Rohit comfortably sliced over Harbhajan Singh for four. The onus had now turned into pressure. Thakur slipped the next one down Rohit’s pads, and the Mumbai captain had anyway walked across to be in the perfect position to glide it away to the fine-leg fence. The pressure had now turned into anxiety for Thakur.

Like any bowler in his position, he went for his go-to ball, the knuckle delivery, but Rohit, by now reading Thakur like and open book, was prepared for it. He stayed back in his crease and helped the length delivery through the gap between short thirdman and a fine backward point. Three balls, three fours. Rohit had turned the game on its head by messing with the bowler’s head, without any grand display of one-upmanship.

The next ball was a length delivery at pace which beat Rohit’s attempt at another glide. Still, it was the bowler who was under the pump. Anxiety had turned into desperation. And you could have telegraphed the attempted yorker sitting at home. Rohit of course had done so from the time his Mumbai Ranji teammate started his run, and was already crouching in front of his off-stump. It ensured he was in the perfect position to pick on the low full-toss at off-stump and sweep it towards the wide gap between fine-leg and deep backward square-leg for the fourth boundary of the over, leaving Mumbai only with 5 to get of the final over, which they did inevitably. Rohit, who finished unbeaten on 56 off 33 balls, had promoted himself in the order to No.3 after his openers had provided a decent foundation, which he then used to help Mumbai get promoted past the bottom spot in the IPL 2018 table.

“If you keep winning, you don’t know what areas you need to work hard on.” Those were poignant words from MS Dhoni. His team had started the day on top of the table, and finished at that spot too despite only their second loss of the season. He could afford to say that too, considering the dominant return his team had made to the IPL.

It was an untoward outing for Chennai at their adopted home-ground. Having spent most of the season having edged past challenging totals, they’d been put in a position where they had to change their tactics. And batting first, they’d started off well with Ambati Rayudu producing another blistering knock. Suresh Raina had then taken over the mantle of ensuring a big total, but he’d failed too in a way to make the most of the springboard he and Rayudu had provided.

CSK managed only 9 runs in the 3 overs that followed Rayudu’s dismissal. Skipper Dhoni struck a couple of further reminders that he’s still got it with bat in hand, but he’d fallen to Mitchell McClenaghan in the 18th over that derailed the Chennai surge — producing 4 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. But to their credit, Chennai stayed in the game till the Thakur over, and like Dhoni has said on plenty of occasions it was just another opportunity for the Mumbai pacer, who he’s identified as his key death bowler going forward to enhance his skill-set, even if he’d fallen short here.