Indian skipper Rohit Sharma expressed happiness over completing 12 years with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians and said that the journey has been “exciting and emotional” and added that he looks forward to “creating many more memories and spreading more smiles”.
Mumbai Indians picked up Rohit Sharma, then a 23-year-old youngster, on January 8, 2011 during the IPL auction, from Deccan Chargers. “I cannot believe it has been 12 years at Mumbai Indians. It has been an extremely exciting and emotional journey for me. We have achieved so much together with stalwarts, youngsters and our Paltan. Mumbai Indians is my family and I want to thank my fellow players, fans and management for all the love. Looking forward to creating many more memories and spreading more smiles for our Paltan,” said Rohit in a statement issued by the franchise.
For Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma has scored 4,709 runs in 182 matches at an average of 26.75. He has scored one century and 32 half-centuries for the side, with his best individual score being 109*.
Statistically, his strongest season with the bat was the 2016 season. In that season, he scored 489 runs at an average of 44.45. He scored five half-centuries in that edition of the tournament, with the best individual score of 85*.
Rohit took over the captaincy of the franchise back in 2013. Since then, he has guided Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020) and two Champions League T20 (2011 and 2013) titles. Over the years, he has received acclaim for his leadership skills and tactics, which led to him becoming India’s all-format captain.
However, the previous season of IPL was not kind to Rohit and Mumbai Indians in general. In 14 matches, he finished with 268 runs at an average of 19.14 and a sub-par strike rate of 120.18. He could not score even a single half-century last season.
The five-time champions finished at the final spot in the IPL 2022, securing only four wins in 14 matches, with only eight points to their name.
However, with an squad featuring international cricket heavyweights like Rohit himself, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer and exciting young talent like Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Tim David and Cameron Green, the side will be looking to bounce back in IPL 2023.
Here is a look at the MI squad after the auction held last year.
Mumbai Indians
Squad strength – 24 (Overseas 8)
Players bought – Cameron Green (INR 17.5 crore), Jhye Richardson (INR 1.5 crore), Piyush Chawla (INR 50 lakh), Duan Jansen (INR 20 lakh), Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), Shams Mulani (INR 20 lakh), Mehal Wadhera (INR 20 lakh), Raghav Goyal (INR 20 lakh)
Players retained – Rohit Sharma (c), Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal. (ANI)
