Rohit Sharma slams an IPL fifty after 24 innings: Stats

Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals to open their account in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season in Delhi. MI successfully chased down 173 after they bowled the Capitals out. Skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front with an incredible half-century. He laid the foundation of MI's win with a 65-run knock. Cameron Green (17*) and Tim David (13*) struck in the final-ball thriller.

After a long gap, Rohit treated his fans with a majestic knock. He came out all guns blazing and put MI in the driving seat. Rohit brought up his fifty off just 29 balls in the 12th over. It was his 41st half-century in the tournament. The MI skipper finished with 65 off 45 balls (6 fours, 4 sixes).

Rohit has scored his first IPL half-century in two years. The streak lasted 24 innings, the longest sequence without a 50+ IPL score for an opener, as per Cricbuzz. Mayank Agarwal follows Rohit with 21 innings.

Rohit broke another record in his formidable knock. He broke Virat Kohli's record of scoring the most runs against Delhi Capitals in the IPL (925). Rohit now tops the list with 977 runs from 33 matches at an average of 32.56. Notably, Rohit and Kohli are the only batsmen with over 900 IPL runs against the Capitals.

DC managed 51/1 in the Powerplay after MI elected to field. Piyush Chawla made inroads in DC's line-up before David Warner and Axar Patel added 67 runs. Jason Behrendorff then initiated DC's lower-order collapse with a three-wicket over. Rohit and Tilak Varma made the run-chase one-sided, but it went down to the wire. David scored two off the final ball to bring MI home.

Rohit was adjudged the Player of the Match for his brilliant knock. He has won this award for the 19th time, the most by an Indian in the IPL. Interestingly, it was Rohit's first MoM award in three years in the tournament.