Screengrab: Hotstar
The pulls of Rohit Sharma were typically regalu2014the stroke fetched him three sixes and a four, each worthy of an essay in itself, each struck with a coating of cricketing divinity. But on the elegance scale, two of his cut shots shaded out the pull. The first was when Daniel Sams flung one too wide and short outside the off-stump. Sharma did not throw his bat at it, he seldom does, but just extended his arms, from the crease, and just glided the ball through the vacant slips-man, fine and fast enough to beat the third-man. The next was classier. Cummins had erred slightly on the shorter side, a misdirected slower ball, and Sharma just worked the ball past backward point with nothing but a gentle swish of his wrists. The shot seemed nothing but a reluctant steer, but such was the timing that it purred along to the fence. The shot, off the last ball of the penultimate over, slashed the required runs to 9 off six balls. And Dinesh Karthik did the honors. But the chase had the stamp of Sharma all alongu2014regal pulls and divine cuts.
