Former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma surpassed MS Dhoni’s long-standing record during the clash against Delhi Capitals. On Saturday, the Indians were up against the Axar Patel-led franchise at Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital. After being invited to bat first by the hosts, the five-time champions got off to a horrid start and posted a modest total of 162 runs at a loss of six wickets.
Hitman contributed 35 runs off 26 balls with a combination of five boundaries and one maximum. Though he missed another half century, Sharma managed to record a new milestone and break a long-standing record of former Chennai Super Kings skipper and his Indian team teammate, MS Dhoni. The 38-year-old is now the highest six hitting Indian batter against a single franchise.
He achieved the milestone after hitting his 51st six against the team, and took over Dhoni, who had struck 50 sixes against Royal Challengers Bengaluru across his IPL career with the Yellow Army. Sharma is now seeded third in the list behind Chris Gayle, who has hit 61 and 54 sixes against Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively. In addition, he is also on the verge of becoming the first player to score 6000 runs for MI in the IPL.
Players with most sixes against an opponent in IPL
Here are the top five players with most sixes against a single opponent in IPL.
61 - Chris Gayle v PBKS
54 - Chris Gayle v KKR
51 - Rohit Sharma v DC*
50 - MS Dhoni v RCB
48 - Virat Kohli v CSK
47 - Rohit Sharma v KKR
Reflecting on his knock and Mumbai Indians’ bowling lineup, Sharma said, “It was not easy to keep hitting through the line. You've got to understand where you want to hit the ball. Like I said, also, we've got the bowlers who are pretty smart to exploit those conditions and I hope they can do that.”
