‘Tiger hai tu Tiger’ – Fans react as Mohsin Khan shares his fought through injury after contemplating leaving cricket

Mohsin Khan has had a very challenging few years. The left-arm seamer was hailed as the huge next thing with the Indian selectors keeping a close eye after a breakout IPL season with debutants Lucknow Super Giants last year in which he picked up 14 wickets in 9 matches at an economy rate under six.

But a misfortune injury prevented him from playing in the whole domestic campaign and even cast doubt on his ability as a fast bowler. But he overcame the obstacle, persisted, and returned to the field.

His comeback wasn’t exactly trouble-free. He did not get to bowl a single over in his debut game for LSG in the IPL 2023 because rain called off the game after LSG’s batting. On May 7 against the Gujarat Titans, 12 months after his last outing in a competitive cricket match, Mohsin finally received the ball in his hands. The strategy did not work out as expected. After receiving a 42-run spell, Mohsin was benched for the following game against SRH.

The left-arm pacer was chosen once more for LSG’s crucial home game against the five-time champions MI. Once again, he got off to a poor start. He was obviously missing the energy and speed that had made him challenging to face with the new ball. In the first two overs, Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma scored 20 runs together against him.

I did it for him, he would have been watching: Mohsin Khan

After being forced to remove Mohsin from the attack by the LSG skipper Krunal Pandya, MI just needed 11 runs off of 6 balls when big hitters Tim David and Cameron Green were in the middle. In spite of the overwhelming odds against him, Mohsin delivered the finest six balls of any LSG bowler on Tuesday.

His first three balls were length balls that were aimed away from Green and David, both right-handed batters. He changed his pace, which made it challenging for the Australians to secure a boundary. When the equation was reduced to 9 off 3 balls, Mohsin struck Green twice with picture-perfect yorkers to win the game for LSG. His last over only gave five runs, and LSG won the game to move up to third place and make significant progress toward securing playoff qualifying.

“The plan was to execute what I did in practice and I executed. Even Krunal was talking to me and I told him the same. The run-up is the same, did not change it in the last over. I was trying to calm myself down, not look at the scoreboard and bowl the 6 balls well. Since the wicket was gripping, I tried the slower ball, but I bowled two of those and then changed to the yorker and it was reversing as well. Been a tough time as I was injured, playing after a year.”

“My father got discharged from the ICU yesterday and he was in the hospital for the last 10 days and I did it for him, he would have been watching. I’m grateful to the team and the support staff, Gautam [Gambhir] sir, Vijay [Dahiya] sir for playing me this game even though I did not do well last game,” Mohsin was quoted as saying in the post-match interview after the victory.

Here’s how fans reacted on Mohsin Khan’s statement:

One match wonder

— poojeetchutneyv2 (@poojeetchutney2) May 17, 2023

Karz chuka diya bhai kal

— Amit (@AmitMovieHolic) May 17, 2023

https://twitter.com/D1141505345/status/1658664757967339520

Pls bcci select mohsin arshdeep kuldeep sen as pacers for Indian team instead of shami ..he always chokes in crucial matches.Time to give young pacers a chance just like siraj.

— Karthik patel (@Karthik50012) May 17, 2023

The most promising bowler over last 2 seasons. Can serve Indian Cricket well if he remains fit.

— Chiraag (@Tvvitterlndia) May 17, 2023

Superb bowling

— Vishwajit Patil (@_VishwajitPatil) May 17, 2023