After outings of 15, 11, 18 in his previous three IPL 2018 matches, Rohit Sharma at last returned to form as he smashed Bangalore bowlers all over the park at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. The MI captain fell short of a century just by six runs off the fifth ball of the last over, breaking many fans' hearts in the stadium. 


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Mumbai came into the match after three successive defeats and when Umesh Yadav cleaned up Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan off the first two ball of the match, another defeat stared the hosts in the face. 


However, Rohit had other ideas in mind. He and Evin Lewis added a blistering 108 runs in 11 overs to completely negate Bangalore's early advantage. However, he didn't do the bulk of the scoring in that partnership having scored just 32. 


But once West Indian Lewis departed for 65 off 42 balls, Rohit took centre stage and control of the innings. When Umesh returned for his third over, Rohit hit him for a six and a four off the first two balls to show him who was boss.  


Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard kept him good company as the Mumbai captain continued assaulting the Bangalore bowlers. He scored 24 in the 40-run stand with Krunal, 23 in the 30-run stand with Pollard and 15 in the 29-run partnership with Hardik Pandya.


Rohit eventually holed out to Chris Woakes at long-on in an attempt to hit Corey Anderon for another big shot having taken two fours and one six earlier in the over. Rohit took 52 balls to score 94 and hit 10 fours and five sixes as the hosts posted 213/6.