Dubai, Nov 4 (GloFans): The much-awaited season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is in the decisive phase with defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) opening the race to the Grand Finale with an encounter against Delhi Capitals on Thursday.
Rohit Sharma is back to lead the team. Left out of the jumbo squad for the summer series Down Under following a hamstring injury, Rohit is back to prove many a points.
The Hit-Man will be eyeing MI’s fifth title. His form and fitness have been under scanner in recent times after he endured a hamstring injury, keeping him off the ground for four consecutive games.
The injury not just kept him away from the ground but also denied Rohit a ticket to Australia, where Team India is scheduled to fly as soon as the IPL ends for a long tour.
Selectors’ move to keep him out of the tour party, however, had raised many eyebrows with several former players and cricket pundits questioning the selection.
Veteran cricketer Virender Sehwag had slammed Rohit’s exclusion from Australia tour, terming the move to drop him as ‘harsh’. Similarly, Sunil Gavaskar had asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India to explain everyone what the problem actually is with Rohit.
The BCCI, on its part, said that a dedicated medical team will continuously monitor Rohit’s fitness.
Rohit, no doubt, has answered questions about his fitness after hitting the ground against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Mumbai Indians’ last round robin game. He will now be determined to put more pressure on the selection panel and Team India think tank.
The MI skipper will now be eager to display his might with the willow, which would further bolster his chance of heading to Australia.
In the last game against SRH, Rohit fell cheaply to Sandeep Sharma, managing just four runs from seven balls. However, it will be complete injustice to analyse someone of such calibre from just an innings. Such icons are beyond numbers against their name.
Even if Mumbai lose on Thursday, the defending champions will still have the opportunity to play the second eliminator, which means their skipper has at least two games in hand to justify his claim for the ticket to Australia.
With two fifty plus scores so far, Rohit has 264 runs from 10 games, averaging 26.40 with a strike-rate of 126.92.
It will not be for the first time when Rohit will have to prove himself in IPL for a national team berth. Earlier in 2011, Rohit had staged a comeback in India’s ODI squad for the tour of the West Indies riding on his impressive show in the then IPL season. Rohit had amassed 372 runs from 16 games in IPL 2011 and later went on to score three half-centuries in five matches against the Caribbean side.
Not just the MI skipper but also his supporters and fans will hope him to fire – the skipper’s role has to be important as Mumbai Indians are just two – or probably three – steps from retaining their title.
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