Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians won the IPL title for the fifth time. Tuesday’s final was Hitman’s 200th match in the IPL. That match became more memorable for him. He made history in Dubai on this day.
Mumbai has changed with the touch of Captain Rohit. In 2013, the leadership baton passed from Ricky Ponting to Hitman. Mumbai won the IPL title for the first time that year. Since then, Mumbai has only moved forward under Rohit’s leadership. After 2015, 2016, 2019, they are the champions again. Rohit is the most successful captain of the competition after winning the IPL five times. On the other hand, Virat Kohli has yet to win a trophy for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bangalore ended the race in the play-offs. Leader Rohit and leader Virat’s IPL scorecard is completely one-sided, Rohit 5, Virat 0. Kohli faded in Rohit’s brilliance.
Kagiso Rabada also had to spell like Bolt. Rabada and Enrich did not get that opportunity. Mumbai started chasing runs at express speed. Rohit and Quinton de Kock took the attacking route from the start. The purpose was to take a good run in the powerplay and take the grip of the match in hand. That plan was successful in Mumbai. Mumbai lost the first wicket by 45 runs. Stoinis dismissed Quinton (20). Suryakumar Yadav (19) was run out due to a misunderstanding with the Mumbai captain.
A well made half-century for @ImRo45 in his 200th outing in the IPL.
He also breaches the 3000-run mark as Captain.#Dream11IPL #Final pic.twitter.com/siJMPAWEWW
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 10, 2020
However, Rohit did not lose focus. When he returned to the dug-out after playing an innings of 68 off 51 balls, the Mumbai camp got the smell of victory. Before that, Rohit’s bat ruled the Delhi bowlers. The Delhi bowlers lost rhythm in Hitman’s attacking batting. He could not play in four matches due to hamstring injury. Kieron Pollard led the team in his place. Although he returned to the team before the play-off, he did not catch the familiar rhythm. But the final is the big stage. Champions like Rohit look at this kind of stage. Pollard (9), Hardik Pandya (3) failed on this day but Ishan Kisan (33) did the rest of the work.
