Rohit Sharma roars back to form, joins Kohli in two 'unbelievable' T20 lists with second half-century knock in IPL 2023
On Sunday, with Mumbai in a do-or-die match, Rohit smashed his second half-century knock of the season with helped him join Virat Kohli in two elite T20 clubs.
There were questions raised on Rohit Sharma's form. In the first 13 matches for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023, the captain only managed 196 runs at an average of just 19.8 with a solitary fifty. The lack of runs sparked a concern among fans and experts with World Test Championship Final around the corner. The legendary Sunil Gavaskar in fact had gone the distance to suggest a time off from the season in a bid to return with a fresh mind before WTC final. But Rohit carried on, amid the outside noise, he kept fighting. And when it mattered the most for his team, he roared back to form. On Sunday, with Mumbai in a do-or-die match, Rohit smashed his second half-century knock of the season with helped him join Virat Kohli in two elite T20 clubs.
Despite what his eventual knock looked like in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede, Rohit was struggling to middle the ball at the start of the innings. Cameron Green had taken over the responsibility to up the ante after the early loss of Ishan Kishan in the chase of 201. The Aussies 43 off 18 had single handedly carried MI to 81 for 1 at the end of eight overs where Rohit was still on 22 off 19.
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The veteran batter eventually broke the shackles in Vivrant Sharma's first over, smashing the debutant for two sixes before he took on Umran Malik for a hat-trick of boundaries in the next over. Rohit did not look back as a flurry of boundaries came about before he completed his fifty off 31 deliveries.
En route, he reached the milestone of 5000 runs for Mumbai Indians becoming only the second batter after Virat Kohli in IPL history to achieve the feat for a single franchise. Overall, he has scored 6191 runs in 241 IPL appearances where his remaining runs were scored for Deccan Chargers. Kohli meanwhile stands atop in the list with all his career IPL runs of 7162 scored for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
He also completed the milestone of 11000 T20 runs, becoming only the second Indian batter after Kohli to achieve the feat. The former India skipper has 11864 runs in 373 matches, scored for Delhi, Team India and RCB. Overall, he became the seventh batter in world cricket to reach the milestone after Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard and David Warner.
Former England cricketer Kevon Pietersen, who was in commentary when Rohit achieved those two T20 feats, exclaimed, “Unbelievable feats from an unbelievable player.”
Rohit was eventually dismissed for 56 off 37 by Nishant Reddy.
