He can hit sixes, he can smash double centuries. He is already an Indian batting legend and perhaps among the greatest white-ball cricketers of all-time. But long before Rohit Sharma had even established himself as a regular Indian international, Rohit had an unlikely IPL hat-trick to his name. Rohit then represented Deccan Chargers (now defunct) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and played as a middle-order batsman. His hat-trick came against future team Mumbai Indians – the same team Rohit will guide to a record four IPL titles in just six years of captaincy. Deccan Chargers were flying high and fighting for the top two spot while Mumbai Indians needed a win to break into the top four. They met in an important clash on this day (May 6) 11 years ago. Rohit Sharma Special: 5 Times When Hitman’s Cheeky Replies at Press Conferences Left Everyone in Splits.

Mumbai Indians were cruising towards a victory despite early hiccups with JP Duminy anchoring the 146-run chase first with Pinal Shah and then with Dwayne Bravo. RP Singh had given the Chargers a perfect start by dismissing the Mumbai’s fearsome opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya off successive deliveries. Rohit Sharma Learnt Captaincy From MS Dhoni, Says CSK Batsman Ambati Rayudu.

Shah and Duminy, however, had put the run-chase back on track with a vital 53-run stand before Tirumalasetti Suman struck by removing Shah and returned for a second spell to dismiss Bravo.

The turnaround or the moment of the match, however, came in the 16th over when Gilchrist introduced Rohit into the attack to induce Mumbai’s lower-order into playing the biggies. New man Abhishek Nayar swept and missed Sharma’s fourth delivery and gate-crashed his stumps. Out came Harbhajan and he played the sweep shot too and lost his stumps. Rohit’s over yielded four singles and two wickets. He was also on a hat-trick. But JP Duminy was still at the crease and Mumbai Indian needed 43 off 24 balls.

The next over brought some just five runs taking the run-rate close to 13 per over. Sharma came again and Duminy was on strike and it was the former who landed the final nail on the coffin. Duminy, like the previous two, played a big sweep towards the leg side and missed but with a faint edge and Gilchrist was quick to catch and kill Mumbai’s hopes. Rohit ran around in celebratory mood. He had completed his first – and only – hat-trick to date.

But it wasn’t over for the Hitman. Two deliveries after removing Duminy he had Saurabh Tiwary stumped to achieve his best-ever figures in T20 franchise cricket. His figures read 2 overs, 6 runs and 4 wickets handing Deccan Chargers a 19-run win. Deccan even went on win the title that season. In 2019, Rohit became the first-ever cricketer to win five IPL titles and only fourth to win IPL trophies with two different teams.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2020 07:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).