Former India opening batter Navjot Singh Sidhu lavished big praise on star batter Rohit Sharma, who is currently playing for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Rohit is playing under Hardik Pandya‘s captaincy at MI this season, having been removed from his role before the start of the season. So far, MI have lost both of their games in IPL 2024, against Gujarat Titans (GT) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). Rohit has managed scores of 43 and 26, respectively, in those games.
Taking to social media platform X, Sidhu reckons that MI are lucky to have a player like Rohit in their squad. He summed up Rohit’s class with one of his trademark poetries.
“Even if the elephant is covered in dust, it will still be respected. Even tying the dog with a gold chain does not make one respectable,” Sidhu captioned a video on X.
| @ImRo45 #IPL2024 pic.twitter.com/ugq5rOor58
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) March 30, 2024
Rohit has been an absolute legend for the Mumbai Indians. Since joining the franchise as a bright up-and-coming talent back in 2011, Rohit has played 199 IPL matches in Blue and Gold clothing, scoring 5,084 runs at an average of 29.39 and a strike rate of 129.86. He has scored a century and 34 fifties in 195 innings for MI, with the best score of 109*.
After taking over the captaincy of the franchise from Ricky Ponting in 2013, Rohit took MI to their golden period, winning the trophy five times in 10 years (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020) and reaching playoffs twice. Hardik Pandya replaced him as the captain last year after making a move to the franchise that made him a star following two great years with the Gujarat Titans (GT), including the title-winning debut season in 2022.
Rohit has also won two Champions League T20 titles with MI in 2011 and 2013, the latter as a captain. The ‘Hitman’ is MI’s all-time highest run-getter, scoring 5,357 runs in 208 matches and 204 innings at an average of 29.59 and a strike rate of almost 130, with a century and 35 fifties in 204 innings.
MI face Rajasthan Royals in their next match on Monday.
(With ANI Inputs)