Sudharsan’s class the constant between counterpole top-order verdicts

Kusal Mendis has an ‘iron resolve’, according to his Cricinfo profile. Those words rang true when he swung a couple of sixes on the leg side off Trent Boult. The way the modern game goes a batter starting his innings in explosive fashion is not news that jolts you off your bed, but context makes us appreciate the little things in life better.

Mendis, the first overseas player to make an IPL debut in the playoffs, reprieved Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav behind the stumps, with the former scoring 69 runs after the drop to set up Mumbai Indians’ total of 228/5. His confidence dented, the right-hander faced a baptism with fire when skipper Shubman Gill was caught stonedead by the prolific new-ball merchant that is Trent Boult. Jasprit Bumrah operated from the other end, but the avalanche of runs Gujarat Titans had been buried underneath meant Mendis could ill-afford vigilance. Moreover, he was filling in the boots of Jos Buttler, who had aggregated 538 runs in 13 innings this season before leaving for national duties.

To then take on a bowler up there on the leaderboard so emphatically showed the character of Mendis. He seemed to be on a mission to redeem himself until a freak dismissal kept his contribution down to only a quarter of Rohit’s, leaving Gujarat Titans all the more miffed at ECB’s international scheduling. They secretly wished for Jonny Bairstow to be in the reckoning for England selection given the rapaciousness with which he was feasting on length. The gunshot crack of his swivel-pull against Prasidh Krishna made it a tough pill to swallow that Punjab Kings folded for 101 at this very venue, Mullanpur, in the first Qualifier, just like the fact that Bairstow was coming straight out of red-ball action for Yorkshire.

His synergic dovetailing with Rohit at the top of the order prompted field changes after every other delivery, giving off the impression that Gill was chasing the ball. There was no deep third man to pouch Bairstow’s horrible miscue in the fourth over, bowled by Prasidh, even though the pacer has the ability to generate swing at high speeds, the ideal recipe for a thick edge, especially in a format where angled bat strokes are commonplace. Although the butterfingered tendencies of the Titans this year puts a big question mark on whether they’d have held on to the chance if there were, indeed, a pair of hands lying in wait. After all, the three errors in the Eliminator took their spill count to 27 in IPL 2025, while making sure they couldn’t exacerbate the number as they were knocked out of the competition as a result.

Let off on 3 by Gerald Coetzee, Rohit swept Sai Kishore off his lengths, proceeding to rock onto the backfoot and whip out the short-arm jab as the tweaker erred on the shorter side. It amounted to a refreshing narrative flip as left-arm spin had claimed his wicket five times in a dozen T20 innings since 2024. Leg-spinners have had Rohit on toast as well but the crunchy slog sweep versus Rashid Khan suggested that national retirement from the shortest format predisposes him to assured adventures at the crease for his franchise.