Rohit Sharma makes a massive impact for Mumbai Indians. His side needs him now more than ever

The crowd went into a deafening roar that echoed the evening skies of Mumbai when Suryakumar Yadav, the stand-in skipper for Mumbai Indians in yesterday’s game against Lucknow Super Giants made the announcement that was long overdue.

“Our very own Rohit Sharma is back”.

And he was back in grand fashion. A 143-run opening stand with Ryan Rickelton, in which he had a 44-ball-84 set the tone for his side as they got a very very valuable victory against the Lucknow Super Giants that keeps their very marginal hopes of making the Playoffs alive.

Rohit has seldom scored poorly in the IPL. In the 18 seasons that he has graced the IPL, he has failed to breach the 350-run mark only 5 times in his career. That is an absurd level of consistency for any other player in the IPL. For Rohit though, it is just another case of business as usual.

So the 5 matches that he was out of the side due to a hamstring injury suffered while batting against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru felt like a lifetime for the Mumbai Indians. And goodness me they have crumbled in spectacular fashion in his absence. They lost games at will, nothing seemed to be going right, and in the midst of it all was Rohit Sharma, watching helplessly on the sidelines as teams continued to pile on the agony one game after another.

So when Rohit walked out to bat as an impact sub after LSG piled on what was a formidable 228 on the board, it was not lost on him that if they had to register another much-needed victory, they would have to fashion out a record run-chase in franchise history to attain that 2 points.

He started off rather streakily, understandable because of the time he was out of the game for. A streaky edge that went for four, a daunting matchup against Mohsin Khan, who has had the better measure of the great, meant that Rohit started off in a measured way, a run-a-ball 15 while Rickelton gladly took the mantle of the aggressor from the other end.

The LSG bowlers had bowled to him with a plan in those early exchanges. Bowl full rather than short, dry out his penchant for playing the pull shorts. And they were fairly successful, until Avesh Khan walked in to bowl. 

That is where the game changed and Rohit emerged from the shackles like a man who was never away from the action for a fleeting second. Out came the pulls, the flicks, and those sensational drives over point as if this was a man playing a video game.

None of the bowlers escaped his wrath. M Siddhart was clattered over long on. Mohammad Shami was dispatched with disdain, while  Mohsin also was not spared from Rohit’s willow, which was now moving with the same skill and precision like an artist’s paintbrush.

By the time he departed, he more or less set the foundation from where MI could just not drop the game. Mumbaicha Raja came back to a triumphant return and showed the crowd and his side a side of the game that could have been so different had he not missed those 5 games.

In the three games that MI have won so far, two of them have had match-defining knicks from Rohit: The 79 he scored against Kolkata Knight Riders in their season-opener, and yesterday’s blitz against LSG. It might be a stretch too far to say that MI will make the Playoffs this season given the absurd odds that they face, but Rohit’s arrival up top definitely gives them one less headache in terms of their team combination.

All this while, Rohit watched as the kingdom and dynasty that he built with his side was being dismantled brick by brick, layer by layer. In his first match back, Rohit provided the impact for MI that was much more massive in its magnitude than just the two points on offer.

His side needs him now more than ever in what could be a season-defining last 4 games for an MI side that have seemed to have a huge identity crisis this season. And by the looks of it, Rohit looks ready to carry his side once again.