IPL 2020, KXIP vs MI: After joining the 5000-club, Rohit Sharma equals another record of Suresh Raina

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma scored his 38th Indian Premier League (IPL) half-century on Thursday. By doing so, Rohit now has the joint-most number of IPL fifties along with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star Suresh Raina among Indian batsmen.

Overall, Rohit and Raina are second in the list of most IPL fifties after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain David Warner, who has struck 44 IPL half-centuries in 129 innings.

Earlier, Rohit also joined the elite club of players to have scored 5,000 or more runs in the Indian T20 league. The other members of the special club are Raina and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Virat Kohli with 5,430 and 5,368 runs respectively. Rohit bagged the records during the IPL 2020 match between MI and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Meanwhile, Australia's Warner is some 200-odd runs away from joining Rohit, Raina, and Kohli in the 5,000-club.

After being put to bat first at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, MI posted 191 for 4 in 20 overs. The defending champions did not have the best start as they lost Quinton de Kock in the very first over of the match off Sheldon Cottrell's bowling before No. 3 batsman Suryakumar Yadav got run out three overs later. MI captain Rohit led from the front as his half-century helped MI recover from the disastrous start.

Rohit scored 70 from 45 balls and the knock was inclusive of three sixes and eight fours. In the 15th over, which was bowled by KXIP pacer Mohammed Shami, as Rohit tried to hit a big six, a relay catch between Glenn Maxwell and Jimmy Neesham ended Rohit's knock, leaving MI at 124 for 4. The duo of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard charged against the KXIP's bowling attack, in the end, to take their side to a respectable total of 191. MI hammered 104 runs off the last six overs, and that included 25-run 20the over bowled by Krishnappa Gowtham. The Karnataka bowler was smashed for four sixes: three by Pollard and one by Pandya. In the penultimate over, Shami was hit for four fours and Neesham leaked 57 in his four overs including 40 in his last two.

On Thursday, KXIP's top batsmen – KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal did not fire as they were sent back to the pavilion for 17 off 19 and 15 off 18 respectively. KXIP's middle-order was exposed too as it could not survive against a collective effort from MI's bowling attack. Fast bowling trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, and James Pattinson shared five wickets between them, while leg-spinner Rahul Chahar also made two breakthroughs. Chasing MI's target of 192, KXIP only managed 143 for 8 in their quota of 20 overs.

After the match ended in Abu Dhabi, Mayank was given the Orange Cap as he is the current leading run-scorer at IPL 2020, having scored 246 in four innings. With 239 runs, Rahul is placed second, ahead of CSK's Faf du Plessis (173) and MI's Rohit (170).

With two wins in four matches, MI have climbed to the top spot in the points table, while KXIP are currently in the sixth position. Rohit's MI are set to head to Sharjah to next take on SRH and KXIP will travel to Dubai to face off against CSK.