Rohit Sharma played a brilliant innings of 80 runs in the eliminator match against Gujarat
Rohit Sharma gave his best performance of IPL 2025 in a crucial knockout match for Mumbai Indians when his team faced in-form Gujarat Titans in New Chandigarh on Friday night. In the eliminator match, Mumbai defeated Gujarat in a high-scoring thriller to secure a place in the second qualifier against Punjab Kings on Sunday. Rohit played a key role in taking five-time champions Mumbai Indians closer to another IPL title. He played a blistering innings of 81 runs in 50 balls, helping Mumbai post a mammoth score of 228/5 in 20 overs. He was awarded the POTM award for this brilliant innings.
What did Rohit Sharma say after winning the POTM award?
Rohit said, “I have scored only four half-centuries this season. I think I wanted to do more than that. But I understand how important it is to play in a big match like the Eliminator. It was a complete team performance.” Rohit is the second-highest run-scorer for Mumbai in IPL 2025 with 410 runs, while Suryakumar Yadav is in first place with 673 runs. Rohit also got some luck in his innings, as Gujarat’s fielding was very poor in the beginning and two of his catches were missed.
Luck was on my side – Rohit
He further said, “It was an attempt to understand how I can give my best. Today, when luck favoured me, I thought to take full advantage of it. I am happy that I could do this and put the team in a good position,” he said. “We knew that there would be a bit of a challenge in the second innings due to the dew. I have played all those shots before, but many times the ball went to the fielders. This time I was lucky that the catches were missed,” he added.
South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton left to prepare for the World Test Championship final, after which Mumbai included England’s Jonny Bairstow as an opener for the playoffs. Bairstow proved this decision right by playing a blistering innings of 47 runs in 22 balls. Regarding him, the Hitman said, “I have seen Bairstow play from the other side for years. We know what wonders he can do in opening. He capitalized on the opportunity and it worked for him. We are always looking for such a start.”