Adding another feather to his cap, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday became the second Indian, and overall seventh, batter to cross the 10,000-run mark in men's T20 cricket.
The 34-year old Sharma achieved the landmark during Mumbai Indians' 5th match of IPL 2022 against Punjab Kings at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune that the former five-time champions lost by 12 runs.
Rohit was just 25 runs away when he started his innings on Wednesday he raced past that mark in just 16 balls with a big six off fast bowler Kagiso Rabada. However, the stylish batter ended up getting dismissed off the very next ball and finished his innings with 28 off 17.
Former India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli had become the first Indian to reach 10,000 T20 runs during the 2021 IPL. He was the fifth player to reach that mark and Australia captain Aaron Finch was the next player to get there before Rohit.
West Indies great Chris Gayle is at the top of the run-chart in T20 cricket, with a whopping 14,562 runs in 463 games. Pakistan's Shoaib Malik (11,698), West Indies captain Kieron Pollard (11,474), Finch (10,499), Kohli (10,379) and David Warner (10,373) make up the list of players above Rohit.
Notably, Rohit is also the third highest run scorer of all time in the IPL with 5719 runs in 213 innings. Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 70 on Wednesday to take his career tally to 5891 runs in 196 innings, is at the second spot. Kohli is the all time highest run scorer in the IPL with 6390 runs in 204 runs.
In Match 23 of IPL 2022 on Wednesday night, Punjab Kings produced a clinical all-round performance to beat Mumbai Indians by 12 runs.
It was the fifth-successive loss for the five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the ongoing IPL 2022 season.
Invited to bat first, brilliant fifties by Shikhar Dhawan (70 off 50) and Mayank Agarwal (52 off 32) powered Punjab Kings to 198/5 in 20 overs. Apart from Shikhar and Mayank's superb hitting at the top, Jitesh Sharma (30 off 15) and Shahrukh Khan (15 not out off 6) gave late flourish to Punjab's innings at lower down the order. Basil Thampi (2/47), Jasprit Bumrah (1/28), Murugan Ashwin (1/34), Jaydev Unadkat (1/44) were the wicket-takers for Mumbai Indians.
In reply, the likes of Dewald Brevis (49 off 25), Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 30) and Tilak Varma (36 off 20) tried hard but it wasn't enough as Mumbai Indians were restricted to 186-9 in 20 overs, losing by 12 runs. Odean Smith (4/30), was the most successful bowler for Punjab while Kagiso Rabada (2/29) and Vaibhav Arora (1/43) also chipped in with crucial wickets.
(With inputs from IANS)
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