Mumbai Indians have performed a number of the most iconic T20 batters at No. 3 through the years, from Suryakumar Yadav to Rohit Sharma to Cameron Green. On Sunday evening against Gujarat Titans, out walked Naman Dhir at No. 3 when Ishan Kishan fell within the first over of the chase of 169.

It was simply the sixth T20 sport of Dhar's skilled profession and he's but to play a 50-over sport in home cricket. What was he doing within the IPL then for the five-time champions?

Bought for INR 20 lakh on the final public sale, Dhir is the newest unknown entity from MI's scouting secure. He is 24, a hard-hitting batter from Punjab. Known for hitting huge sixes down the bottom, his 4 T20 innings earlier than this had earned him simply 39 runs since his T20 debut just a few months in the past in November, with a excessive rating of 17. For Punjab too, he has largely batted at No. 3 in his fledgling profession to this point. In the Ranji Trophy, he has two centuries from 20 innings - each from final season - from 14 video games for a median of 30.21.

It was within the Sher-e-Punjab T20 Cup - a state T20 league organised by the Punjab Cricket Association - in August final yr that he made himself observed together with his hitting exploits. In 12 innings in that match, Dhir smashed 466 runs (second-highest) at a strike fee of 192.56 whereas averaging 42.36. He scored two centuries alongside the way in which - 127 off 56 and 105 off 44 - which included a complete of 30 sixes.

On Sunday, he smoked three back-to-back fours towards Afghanistan's Azmatullah Omarzai and a six in the identical over. Dhir lofted the primary ball of the third over over mid-off, the second over midwicket and the third (after a large) for a one-bounce 4 to the square-leg boundary. A dot ball later, Dhir clobbered a half-volley over long-off for an 86-meter six. Omarzai, nevertheless, fought again on the final ball of the over by trapping Dhir lbw with the assistance of a overview.

Mumbai would have thought Dhir did his job with a 10-ball 20, however they finally fell brief by simply six runs ultimately.