Rohit Sharma breaks Mayank Agarwal's record to end half-century drought in IPL that lasted 808 days

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma ended his half-century drought in Indian Premier League (IPL) on April 11. Rohit broke the record for longest streak by an opener in IPL without scoring a half-century. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter went 21 innings without a half-century from IPL 2011 to 2015 whereas Rohit did not get to the fifty-run mark for 24 innings. 
 

Rohit anchored MI's run chase and scored at a brisk rate at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. He got to his half-century from 29 deliveries. He got to the milestone in the 12th over of the run chase.
 

Rohit was lucky in the 11th over as umpire's call saved him from getting out for 48. Axar Patel trapped him in front of the stumps but the on-field umpire did not raise his finger. When David Warner reviewed the decision, the ball was clipping the leg-stump but umpire's call saved him.

The 35-year-old started off in style with two fours and a six off the first over bowled by Mukesh Kumar. He targetted South African pacer Anrich Nortje and hit him for a six and a four. He ended the fielding restrictions with a six off Lalit Yadav. He scored 37 runs from 17 balls in the powerplay overs itself. He shared a 71-run opening partnership with Ishan Kishan before the latter got run out. This was the 37th run out involving Rohit. He equalled Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik's record.

Rohit scored 65 runs from 45 balls. His knock was studded with six fours and four sixes. In the 18th over, he lost his wicket to left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman as wicketkeeper Abhishek Porel took a brilliant one-handed catch diving to his right. Despite Rohit's wicket in the death overs, Tim David and Cameron Green led MI to their first win of the season in last-ball thriller. 

“We needed to bat well to chase the total. I thought everyone put their hand up. We had to make it count for the team. I needed to make use of the powerplay, I knew we had to keep attacking and take my chances. I tried to create a partnership, had a good communication with Tilak. It was important for us to have a good partnership,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation. 
 

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