Rohit is one of the icons of the Indian Premier League. After winning 5 IPL titles for Mumbai Indians, he became the most successful captain in IPL history. You may be amazed to know that the MI won 5 IPL trophies in 7 years from 2013 to 2020, including two consecutive title wins in 2019 and 2020.
Rohit has led them to all these victories, and he is regarded extremely highly in the league. But his captaincy is not the only reason for it. He has also been priceless with the bat in the cash-rich league. With 5879 runs against his name, he is the fourth-highest run-getter in the history of IPL.
In all these years, Sharma has played some phenomenal knocks, and here, you will find the five best performances of Rohit Sharma in the IPL. So, let’s begin.
5. 62 of 32 balls for Mumbai Indians vs. Rising Pune Supergiants (2013)
Rohit got an opportunity to showcase his batting skills for the Mumbai Indians after the legendary Tendulkar–Pointing opening duo was broken. Against RPS, he came in to bat at #4 in the ninth over, and the score was just 60. He didn’t get going immediately and consumed 16 deliveries for his first 15 runs.
But, the show had just begun as the Hitman took the attack on the Pune bowlers. The next 16 balls of his innings brought 47 runs, and he finished with 62* off just 32 balls. Rohit’s innings can be simply divided into two phases. In the first 16 deliveries, he scored runs at an SR of 93.75. Whereas, in the last 16 balls, the strike rate went as high as 293.75. That’s some turnaround, isn’t it?
On the back of Sharma’s half-century, MI set RPS a target of 184. The Pune side fell well short, and Mumbai won the game by 41 runs.
4. 109* of 60 balls for Mumbai Indians vs. Kolkata knight Riders (2012)
KKR featured a star-studded team in this season of IPL and eventually ended up winning the trophy. But, in this game, they were left clueless against Rohit’s dominating ton. He came in to bat when the first wicket fell for 15. He smashed the KKR bowlers to all corners of the ground to stamp his class and authority.
His extraordinary effort with the bat came with the help of 12 boundaries and 5 sixes. You will be surprised to know that the rest of the batters could get only 68 runs in 10 overs, whereas Rohit smashed 109 runs in the 60 balls he played. His superlative batting display powered MI to 182 in 20 overs, and they clinched a comfortable victory by 27 runs.
3. 84* of 54 balls for Mumbai Indians vs. Kolkata Knight Riders (2016)
Rohit Sharma loves to bat at the Eden Gardens, and here’s another one of his classy knocks in Kolkata. Mumbai had a scratchy start to their IPL campaign in 2016. KKR asked them to chase down a massive 88 runs to get a much-needed victory.
The MI skipper got his team off to a flyer as they went past the 50-run mark in the 6th over. There wasn’t much support from the other end as Parthiv Patel, and Hardik Pandya scored 32 runs combined on 30 balls. However, Rohit kept marching on and went on to smash 10 fours and 2 sixes in his innings.
Mitchell McCleneghan and Jos Butler played brisk cameos to help the cause, but Rohit was certainly the man of the moment. He stayed unbeaten on 84, and MI crossed the finishing line with 5 balls to spare. There’s no denying that this innings was one of the best performances by Rohit Sharma in the IPL.
2. 32* of 13 balls for Deccan Chargers vs. Kolkata Knight Riders (2008)
IPL fans know Rohit Sharma only for his success with the Mumbai Indians. But, before joining MI, Rohit featured for the Deccan Chargers side as well and played one of his finest knocks for them.
It was the first edition of the IPL in South Africa (Johannesburg), and KKR batted first to put 160 on the board. The chase was well on track when Sharma arrived at the crease. Chargers had scored 85 runs in 12.3 overs at the loss of only 2 wickets.
But they couldn’t score as quickly from there as required. In the next 27 deliveries, they got 43 runs, leaving them with 33 to get in the final 3 overs. They also lost a couple of wickets in the process, and now everything relied on Rohit. The following two overs went for just 11 runs, and DC now needed 22 off the final over. That looked quite hard, but Rohit started the over with a boundary to keep the hopes alive.
Later, the Chargers needed 14 off 4, and the Hitman hammered a maximum to keep things interesting. With the final two balls to be delivered, DC needed 5 runs, and Sharma smashed an extremely crucial four. Then, a six of the final ball saw Rohit pull off a miraculous win for his side.
The Hitman played an outrageous knock of 32* runs in only 13 deliveries. The innings included 3 massive sixes and 2 fine fours.
1. 50 of 26 for Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings in Final (2015)
Finals bring a lot of pressure along with them. Some players crumble under pressure, but some thrive in those situations. The Hitman of Indian Cricket certainly thrived on the biggest stage in the IPL 2016. It was the final of the league, and the arch-rivals were up against each other.
Batting first, Mumbai lost their first wicket on the fifth ball of the opening over, and their skipper walked out to bat. He wasted no time getting going, and CSK had no answer to his counter-attacking approach. Rohit cruised to 50 runs in just 26 balls with the help of 6 boundaries and 2 maximums.
His match-winning partnership with Lendl Simmons for the second wicket was 119 runs, and it came in only 67 balls. MI posted 202 runs on the board, and CSK fell 41 short of that figure. Rohit Sharma lifted his second IPL trophy. His scintillating knock stands on top of the list of the best performances of Rohit Sharma in the IPL.
