"He said he did it; Man of his words"- Fans erupt as Rohit Sharma ends drought of two years and helps MI beat DC in IPL 2023

Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma played a crucial role in helping his team get their first win of the IPL 2023 season in an absolute thriller against the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.

Chasing 173 runs to win the game, Rohit scored 65 runs off just 45 balls and won the Player of the Match award for his fantastic contribution. While he couldn't remain unbeaten to see his team through, he did enough to allow big hitters like Tim David and Cameron Green to finish the game off.

Fans on Twitter hailed Rohit Sharma for his fantastic innings on a slow and turning track in Delhi. Many were also relieved that Rohit finally broke his drought of 24 innings without an IPL fifty, a run stretching back to 2021. Here are some of the reactions:

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Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma's partnership set up the game for MI

MI openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, who have struggled in recent games, made the most of the powerplay against DC. They flew out of the box, scoring 68 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket.

The challenge, however, was always going to be the middle overs as the DC spinners were expected to dominate on this track. Ishan Kishan was unfortunately run out in the eighth over and there were chances of panic in the visitors' camp.

However, they sent in-form Tilak Varma at No.3 and that proved to be a masterstroke. The southpaw played a crucial hand of 41 and helped negate any spin threat to MI alongside captain Rohit.

The match got too close for comfort for the visitors towards the end, but Tim David and Cameron Green held their nerve to help MI win off the final ball.

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Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Riley Meredith, Tim David (IP)

Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, David Warner (c), Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Abishek Porel (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Kumar (IP)