Back on April 10, 2011, Rohit Sharma made his debut for MI in the Indian Premier League (IPL) against Delhi Daredevils, now Capitals, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Rohit Sharma of MI plays a shot. Courtesy: AFP
New Delhi,UPDATED: Apr 10, 2024 13:25 IST
Rohit Sharma’s journey with the Mumbai team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been nothing short of spectacular. It has been 14 long years since Rohit has been playing for MI in the cash-rich T20 league. Back on April 10, 2011, he made his debut for the 5-time champions during the match against Delhi Daredevils, now Capitals, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Back then, Rohit was one of the most promising batters in Indian cricket, but had struggled to find his feet in international cricket. He also missed the bus for the 2011 ODI World Cup that India won after beating Sri Lanka in the final. MI showed faith in him and shelled out Rs 2 million US dollars in the mega auction. Rohit played 3 years for the now defunct Deccan Chargers before making a move to MI.
As far as his debut for MI was concerned, he had a decent enough outing as MI beat Delhi by 8 wickets. After being sent in to field first, Mumbai bowled Delhi out for 95 in 17.4 overs. Lasith Malinga was the wrecker-in-chief after he finished with figures of 3.4-1-13-5. Harbhajan Singh lent him support by picking up the wickets of Aaron Finch and Umesh Yadav.
Rohit Sharma keeps calm under pressure
MI lost the early wicket of Davy Jacobs, after which Ambati Rayudu also perished cheaply. Rohit came to bat at No.4 and did not show any nerves whatsoever. He built a handy partnership of 68 runs with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar off 10.4 overs as MI chased down the target with 19 balls to spare. Rohit stayed not out on 27 runs off 30 balls with 3 fours.
Rohit had a decent season with the bat as he scored 372 runs from 14 matches at an average of 33.81 and a strike-rate of 125.25 with 3 half-centuries and a top score of 87 to his name. In 2013, Rohit took over from Ricky Ponting as the skipper of the MI team and the rest is history.
In 202 matches for MI, Rohit has scored 5159 at an average of 29.31 and a strike-rate of 130.44 with a top score of 109 to his name. Hardik Pandya recently replaced him as the MI skipper. As the Mumbai captain, Rohit won 91 out of 163 matches and lost 68. 4 matches ended in ties.
Published By:
sabyasachi chowdhury
Published On:
Apr 10, 2024
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