NEW DELHI: Former Mumbai Indians captain
Rohit Sharma
will become the second player after MS Dhoni to play 250 IPL games when he takes the field against Punjab Kings at
Mullanpur
on Thursday.
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Rohit has played 249 IPL matches scoring 6472 runs at an average of 30.10 and a strike rate of 131.22. Rohit has hit 2 hundreds and 42 half-centuries in his IPL career.
One of those two hundreds came in Mumbai Indians' last match against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten 105 but his side fell 20 runs short as they tried to chase down 207 for victory.
Mumbai finished on 186/6 even though Rohit raised his ton off 61 balls.
MI's three-match losing streak was broken with two victories at home against the Delhi Capitals and
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
, but a defeat to CSK meant they had to start over again.
MI would be aware that they have enough weaponry in the camp to reverse the situation, but persistent teamwork is what's really needed.
This season, the sole silver lining for Punjab Kings has been the unwavering performances of its unsung Indian players, Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh, who both bat lower in the order and have frequently had to compensate for the deficiencies at the top of the order.
Mumbai and Punjab are both coming off losses in their last games and have each lost four games, thus pressure to perform will be intense on both teams.
The inability of Punjab to maximize the performance of their top order has been made more difficult by the fact that usual captain Shikhar Dhawan has been absent for "seven to ten days" with a shoulder injury.
Mumbai have a marginal edge with 16-15 record against the Punjab outfit in 31 clashes. Since 2020 as well, MI vs PBKS have been tightly fought contests with MI leading 4-3.
MI have lost both their away games this season - by six runs vs GT in Ahmedabad and by 31 runs vs SRH in Hyderabad.
While Suryakumar Yadav only averages 26.44 in away matches since IPL 2023, he scored fifties in both matches against Punjab last edition.
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