Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians are crowned champions of IPL 2020. (BCCI/IPL)Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to an unprecedented five Indian Premier League (IPL) titles after beating Delhi Capitals on Tuesday. With this win, Mumbai broke their odd-number jinx and became the first team to win consecutive IPL trophies since CSK in 2010 and 2011. En-route, Rohit also became the first captain to score two-fifties in IPL final’s history.
Rohit’s Midas touch worked from the start when he made the ‘tactical’ move of including off-spinner Jayant Yadav in the playing XI to tackle Delhi’s long list of left-handed batsmen. Yadav replaced leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and the decision reaped rewards as the off-spinner got the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in the Powerplay.
Chasing a target of 157, Rohit led from the front with a charismatic 68 off 51 balls as Mumbai reached the total in 18.4 overs with five wickets in hand.
Batting inside the ‘Ring of Fire’ at the Dubai International Stadium, Rohit battled his injuries and yet brought out some of the most delightful strokes – something the tournament had missed so far. From his exquisite cover drive to the cracking pull-shot — the timing was perfect from Rohit and probably a gentle reminder to the national selectors that all was well.
According to cricviz stats, Rohit’s two percent false shot percentage today was the lowest for any 50 plus score in an IPL final.
200th IPL match.
6th IPL finals.
4000 IPL runs for Mumbai Indians.
2nd fifty in the finals of the IPL as captain.Rohit Sharma is on verge of claiming his 5th IPL title as Captain. The man who was born to achieve everything as leader in the IPL. pic.twitter.com/60NljPX41q
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 10, 2020
Records That Fell
The MI captain also joined the exclusive list of players with 4000 runs for one IPL team. Overall, Rohit Sharma has 5162 runs but 1171 runs have come while batting for Deccan Chargers at the very beginning of IPL. Virat Kohli (RCB) and MS Dhoni (CSK) are the other two names on the list.
However, Rohit also bagged an unwanted record when he was involved in a run-out with Surya Kumar Yadav. Rohit and Surya have been involved in a run-out for the third time this season and in all of them, Suryakumar has been the one dismissed.
Rohit Sharma:
100th IPL Match: At Dubai International Stadium.
200th IPL Match: At Dubai International Stadium.
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) November 10, 2020
Meanwhile, as a team Mumbai Indians also stitched a few records of their own –
Mumbai Indians, champions of IPL 2020, have now won three of the last four IPL seasons. This is also the first time that they have won in an even year, all their previous wins come in the odd-years of 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019
MI also equalled their record for the highest score in the Powerplay of an IPL final. They had scored 61/1 against CSK in 2015 and repeated the feat against Delhi.
MI bowlers, who have been exceptional through season 13, took eight wickets in the first over of an innings in this season.
Trent Boult, the left-arm seamer, also picked up 16 Powerplay wickets this season. The only Mumbai Indians bowler in their history, to take more Powerplay wickets in a single season, was Mitchell Johnson in 2013, who also took 16.
Mumbai vs Delhi in IPL 2020:
Game 1: Boult took wicket in 1st Over
Game 2: Boult took wicket in 1st Over
Game 3: Boult took wicket in 1st Over
Game 4: Boult took wicket in 1st Over
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) November 10, 2020
Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer reached 500 runs in the season and became the only other Delhi batsman to do so after Shikhar Dhawan. Iyer also scored his 2nd IPL 2020 fifty.
IPL 2020 was also the first time where three bowlers have taken 25 or more wickets in an IPL season. Kagiso Rabada (29), Jasprit Bumrah (27), Trent Boult (25).
Delhi Capital’s wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant scored his maiden fifty of IPL 2020 in the final.
Rishabh Pant (23 years 37 days) also became the second youngest to hit a 50+ score in an IPL Final.
Instances of both captains hitting 50+ in IPL final : Warner (69) & Kohli (54) – SRH v RCB 2016. Iyer (65*) & Rohit (52*) – DC v MI 2020
The season so far-
Most Sixes- Ishan Kishan (30)
Fastest Fifty- Nicholas Pooran (17 balls)
Highest Score- KL Rahul (132 not out)
Best Batting Strike Rate- Kieron Pollard (191.42)
Most Wickets- Kagiso Rabada (30)
Most Dots – Jofra Archer (175)
Fastest Ball – Anrich Nortje (156.22)