Good things can lead to good things in life. Perhaps, of all days, today is not the day that Mumbai Indians fans would want to remind themselves of these words. On Friday evening, with India’s T20I series over, Australia’s Day 2 match against Pakistan played out and India women well ahead of the stumps for the second day against England, Mumbai Indians sent international cricket into a frenzy when they announced Hardik Pandya as their captain. the new one. the end of Rohit Sharma’s 10-year tenure.
There was a lot of speculation about this after Hardik was sold to Mumbai earlier this month. He was released by the franchise in 2022, when Gujarat Titans roped him in as their captain. Hardik then led the franchise to win the title in their first season in 2022 before finishing as runners-up in 2023. The 30-year-old’s return to his old franchise sparked captaincy rumors and it was finally confirmed on Friday.
As Rohit bids his time as Mumbai Indians captain, we take a look at the key numbers that have defined his leadership in IPL history.
Has there ever been a better one?
Not many players would be willing to give up their position, to make a better way, especially one who is famous, who was built with the intention of leading the side. But midway through the 2013 season, Ricky Ponting called for his resignation after scoring 52 runs in five innings as the captain with three singles, including a six-ball duck. Later, after playing the sixth game of the season against Delhi (Daredevils), Ponting left his position as Rohit, who joined Mumbai Indians from Deccan Chargers in 2011 for US $ 2 million, stepped up. And Mumbai never looked back.
MI lost only two of their next nine matches going into the tournament. They stuttered against Chennai Super Kings before defeating 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals in the second Qualifier and later avenged their loss to MS Dhoni’s men in the final to claim their first trophy in five. He also won in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
With their final win in 2020, Mumbai became the first IPL team to lift the trophy five times and the second team in history to successfully defend the crown after CSK in 2011.
But was there ever a better way to replace Ponting? The answer was and probably still is no.
In 2022, when Indian cricket was among the candidates to replace Virat Kohli as the captain of Team India, Ponting supported Rohit and in his eagerness, he recalled his chart with the management of Mumbai Indians in the year 2013 when the franchise was looking for players. the new captain. “I was at Mumbai Indians when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy there,” the Australian legend told the ICC. “I was bought in the market to be their captain and unfortunately, I didn’t play well after the first few games to stay in the team, so I had to find another international player to come into the side.”
“The owners and managers of the team wanted to know who I thought would take over the leadership of Mumbai Indians. There were a few names thrown around between the owners and other coaches but it was clear to me that there was only one person who could lead the team – he was a boy and his name was it was Rohit Sharma.”
Better than MS Dhoni?
In Rohit’s tenure as the Mumbai Indians captain, from April 24, 2013 till now, no other captain has led the IPL’s most successful franchise more than the Indian star. He stands at the top with 87 wins in 158 matches. Dhoni stands second with 82 wins in 141 matches, with five wins in 14 matches as the captain of the undefeated Rising Pune Super Giants in the 2016 season.
Not to forget, Rohit led MI to five titles during this period. Dhoni, again, stands second in the list after winning three times as captain – 2018, 2021, 2023.
Rohit also has the most wins as a captain in IPL playoff matches (including the final), with 10 wins in 13 such matches, one more than the CSK legend (9 out of 15). And MI have not lost an IPL final under Rohit in five of the 13 seasons that have reached the finals.
A breakdown of Rohit’s batting numbers as captain
The 36-year-old ends his captaincy as the third highest among IPL captains, with 3986 runs in 157 innings. He stands behind Virat Kohli’s 4994 runs in 143 appearances as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore between 2011 and 2023, and Dhoni’s 4660 in 196 innings. However, when the stakes were high, Rohit failed. In the 13 innings he batted in playoff matches (including the final), he managed just one fifty, while scoring seven single-digit runs for just 227 runs in such matches.
