IPL 2021: Quinton de Kock's explosive straight drive almost takes non-striker Rohit Sharma down

Mumbai Indians might not have blown away Kolkata Knight Riders with their total in Abu Dhabi, but Quinton de Kock almost blew away Rohit Sharma with a shot of his. During the IPL 2021 second leg between Mumbai and Kolkata, de Kock along with his opening partner Rohit got the defending champions off to a good start. 

KKR skipper Eoin Morgan decided to bowl first expecting dew to play a part in the latter half of the game. Rohit, who has already an incredible record against Kolkata, got off to a good start. Inside the powerplay, Mumbai notched up 56 runs. Rohit and de Kock both looked set for a big one. 

In the ninth over of the inning, Andre Russell came to bowl and this is when de Kock decided to take on the attack. He smashed the first ball to the boundary and then went on for another one. The ball was slightly pitched up and de Kock went for a booming off-drive. The ball went past Rohit at a height that could have taken him out. 

However, the Mumbai Indians skipper ducked at the right time, falling over on the crease. The ball went straight to the long-off region and crashed into the boundary cushion at rocket speed. It was quite the tracer-bullet as Ravi Shastri would’ve called had he been in the commentary box. 

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— Simran (@CowCorner9) September 23, 2021

Rohit Sharma and de Kock added 78 runs for the first wicket

The opening partnership ended with Rohit getting dismissed for 33 runs from 30 balls. The stand was 78 runs from 9.2 overs. Quinton went out to make 55 runs from 42 balls, before finally being dismissed with the score of 106 for 3. Apart from them, Ishan Kishan made 14, Kieron Pollard scored 21 runs while Krunal Pandya added 12 runs. All of these contributions helped Mumbai Indians to end up with a score of 155 for 6.

During his knock, Rohit crossed the 1000-run mark against Kolkata Knight Riders. By doing so, he also became the first player to score more than 1000 runs against a single opposition.