IPL 2020: MI skipper Rohit Sharma joins Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina in elite IPL club
Mumbai Indians (MI) batsman Rohit Sharma
Mumbai Indians (MI) batsman Rohit Sharma reached the landmark of 5,000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday. Rohit is the only third batsman in the 5000-club after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batsman Suresh Raina.
Rohit, who was two runs away from the milestone, achieved it during MI's IPL 2020 fixture against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Abu Dhabi. With 5,430 runs at an average of 37.19, Kohli is the leading run-scorer at the IPL with Raina in second place, having scored 5,368 runs at 33.34. While Rohit and Raina have struck a century each in the IPL, Kohli has five hundreds to his name.
Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner is 200-odd runs away from joining the elite 5,000-club in India's T20 league.
When MI took on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) earlier in the IPL 2020, Rohit was 90 runs away from the milestone. However, the Mumbai captain fell 10 runs short of the record in the match. The wait to 5,000 runs continued when Rohit was dismissed for eight runs in MI's next match, which was against RCB.
Overall in T20s, Rohit (8,742 runs) is just behind Indian captain Kohli (8,918) in the list of most runs. West Indian hitter Chris Gayle is currently the top-scorer in T20s, having scored a whopping 13,296 runs, close to 3,000 runs more than second-placed and his compatriot Kieron Pollard.
On Thursday, KXIP captain KL Rahul won the toss and put MI to bat in Abu Dhabi. The Punjab side kickstarted the match on a high as they dismissed MI opener, Quinton de Kock, in the very first over of the game. Three overs later, MI lost their No. 3 batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who go runout, and that wicket left MI at 21 for 2 in 3.5 overs.
So far in IPL 2020, each of the eight teams has won and lost at least a match. With two wins in three matches, Rajasthan Royals are at the top of the table, ahead of Delhi Capitals (DC) and KKR. KXIP and MI are placed fifth and sixth in the table respectively.