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Published 18:23 IST, September 12th 2020

IPL 2020: After his pyrotechnics with the bat, Rohit Sharma pulls off a one-handed stunner

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma pulled off a one-handed stunner at the slip cordon during a recent practice match ahead of IPL 2020

Reported by: Karthik Nair
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Rohit Sharma might be in the perfect frame of mind heading into the IPL 2020 that gets underway on September 19. Rohit has already shown that he is ready to make his bat do the talking on the 22 yards when he had struck a humongous six recently as the ball hit a moving bus outside the park. Now, the Mumbai Indians skipper has shown some brilliant athleticism as a fielder as he took a stunner. 

'Rohit Sharma stunner': Mumbai Indians 

The title-holders had posted a video of their recent practice session where the 'Hitman' is looking to get into the groove as a slip fielder. While it is known that 'Catches Win Matches', slip fielding is something that a player needs to excel in. While it looks easy to the eyes, it is not by any means as a slip fielder should be alert and also needs to make some difficult body movements (diving, timing his jump to perfection) in order to complete the catch and that is what Sharma has managed to do. 

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In the video, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene can be seen giving some catching practice to the elegant opening batsman who is showing a lot of awareness as a fielder in the slip cordon as he did not drop the first catch which was a sitter. However, what really stood out here is that while attempting his second catch the ball moved to his left as the multiple-time IPL winner also dived to his left, timed it to perfection, and took a one-handed stunner. 

The four-time champions captioned the image as 'Just another one-handed Rohit Sharma stunner in the slip cordon!'

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IPL 2020: Arch-rivals MI & CSK to start the proceedings

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 is nearly two weeks away and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally released the much-awaited IPL schedule on Sunday. Defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings in the tournament opener on September 19 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The cricketing carnival will be played across three venues - Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi. According to the newly announced IPL time table, Dubai will host 24 games, Abu Dhabi will host 21 games while Sharjah will be hosting 12 games.

The 53-day tournament will witness 10 afternoon matches starting at 3:30 PM (IST) while the evening matches will start at 7:30 PM (IST).

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Meanwhile, this will also be the first time that an IPL final will be played on a weekday. The tournament decider will be played on November 10 i.e. on the day of Diwali.

READ: IPL 2020: 'Hitman' Rohit Sharma Smashes It Out Of The Park As Ball Hits A Moving Bus

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18:23 IST, September 12th 2020