Rohit Sharma became the first player to lift six IPL titles last October when Mumbai Indians won the 2020 edition of IPL. Rohit Sharma was already an Indian international when IPL began in 2008. He had played some decisive knocks for India in T-20I and his talent earned him a fair amount of hype. IPL records of Rohit Sharma are impeccable in the tournament history.
His international form deterred after initial success as a debutant but he kept producing brilliant knocks in the IPL. He was elevated to captaincy position by Mumbai Indians when the franchise was under turmoil. He has since won IPL trophies as captain and looks set to win a few more with a truly world-class squad. In this article, we will look at five records held by Rohit Sharma.
#5 Most titles – 6
This record is almost common knowledge as Rohit’s incredible six IPL trophies can only be bettered by him in the upcoming years. He won his first IPL trophy in 2009 with Deccan Chargers.
His second IPL trophy came in 2013 as he led Mumbai Indians to glory from a down and out position. Two more followed in 2015 and 2017, the first against CSK and the next against RPS in a nail-biting final. Finally, in 2020, he became the second captain after MS Dhoni to successfully defend the title.
#4 Lifting the trophy in three different countries
This is a unique record as Rohit Sharma has been part of victorious teams in South Africa, India and UAE. The 2009 edition was held in RSA due to elections in India and Deccan Chargers lifted the title.
Rohit excelled both as a batsman and bowler in that tournament. In 2013, Mumbai recovered to win the title after losing their first five matches in UAE. In 2020, the entire tournament was held in UAE and Mumbai cruised to the title with little difficultly.
#3 Century and hat-trick
Rohit Sharma remains the only player in the history of IPL to have picked up a hat-trick and scored a century. He bowled off-spin in the 2009 tournament and picked up 11 wickets. The hat-trick came against Mumbai Indians when they required 43 runs in 25 balls to win the match.
Sharma bowled Abhishek Nayar around his legs and castled Harbhajan next ball. He finished the hat-trick with the wicket of Duminy in his next over. His century came in 2012 against a world-class attack comprising Brett Lee, Shakib Al Hasan, Narine and Kallis.
#2 Half century in all editions of IPL
This is another unique record held by Rohit as he is the only player to have scored a fifty in all 13 editions of IPL. Rohit’s first half-century came against Delhi Daredevils in 2008 as he scored 66 runs off 36 balls.
He scored two more half-centuries in 2008 but scored only one fifty in 2009. 2016 was Rohit’s most prolific season as he registered five half-centuries. His last fifty was a match-winning knock against Delhi in the IPL 2020 final.
#1 Most runs against a single opponent
Rohit’s love for Eden Gardens is well known among ardent IPL followers and most of his top knocks have come against KKR. He has six fifties and a century against the Kolkata based franchise. Rohit’s tally of 939 runs against KKR is the most by a player in IPL against a single opponent. Rohit could well go past the 1000 run mark against KKR in IPL 2021 as he requires only 61 runs in two games to achieve the feat.