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Rohit Sharma was signed by the Mumbai Indians for 13 crores at the 2011 IPL auction. He was appointed as captain midway through the 2013 season, and the rest is history. Sharma has led MI to five title wins under his captaincy: in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
He has a decent record as a batter in the tournament: 5880 runs in 223 innings at an average of 30.15 and a strike rate of 129.62. Against arch-rivals CSK, Rohit has scored 679 runs in 25 innings at an average of 29.5 and a strike rate of 128.6.
Here's a look at Rohit Sharma's three best knocks against CSK ahead of yet another MI-CSK clash today.
#1 50 (26), 2015 IPL final
The arch-rivals were up against each other in their 3rd IPL final, this time at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. CSK skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Faf du Plessis ran out Parthiv Patel in the first over of the innings, after which captain Rohit walked out to bat in the middle.
Sharma put on a masterclass in counter-attacking batting. He hit a flurry of boundaries off Mohit Sharma and Ashish Nehra in the powerplay, making the most of the field restrictions. He also hit a six off Ashwin and a couple of fours off Dwayne Bravo in the middle overs.
This knock also holds extremely high importance because it was in the final. The best players step up on the big days, and Rohit did not disappoint MI fans at all.
#2 87*(48), Wankhede 2011
CSK won the toss and opted to field first in this away fixture. They got a couple of early wickets: R Satish and Sachin Tendulkar. Rohit Sharma came to bat when the scoreboard read 13/2 in 3.4 overs.
It was going to be an enormous challenge to set a competitive total against a quality CSK bowling attack. Not only did he have to anchor the innings, but also score at a quick rate.
Sharma started off by smashing Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel for boundaries in the powerplay. He was also extremely good at tackling the spin attack comprising of Ashwin, Randiv, and Raina in the middle overs.
The hitman demolished Raina in the death overs and did not slow down at any point during the course of the knock. MI set a challenging target of 165 runs for CSK. In response, they fought hard but lost the game by just eight runs.
Badrinath (71 off 48 balls) and Hussey (41 off 33 balls) were the only contributors of note for the visitors. Harbhajan Singh took a five-wicket haul, returning with figures of 5/18 in 4 overs.
#3 50 (31), Wankhede 2015
The two teams played each other in the 12th match of the season. MI won the toss and elected to bat first. However, they lost three wickets (Simmons, Parthiv, and Corey Anderson) in the first four overs. This meant that there was pressure on the captain to step up for the team in times of crisis.
Rohit Sharma did not go berserk as such. He rotated the strike comfortably and hit boundaries on a regular basis. He took on medium-pacer Mohit Sharma in the middle overs and did not let the CSK bowlers settle down after the early wickets.
A hitting masterclass from Pollard meant that they were able to post 183/7 despite a poor start in the first four overs. However, CSK were able to chase down the target comfortably.
They won the match by six wickets with 20 balls to spare. Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum's explosive opening stand laid the foundation for the victory.
