Indian skipper Rohit Sharma's second Indian Premier League (IPL) ton went in vain as Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) Matheesha Pathirana tightened the screws in the slog overs and handed Mumbai Indians (MI) a 20-run defeat at Wankhede Stadium. Rohit who was starved of strike in the slog overs reached his century in the final over of the run chase when a result in MI’s favour was not possible in legitimate deliveries. As Rohit reached the milestone, he did not raise his bat or take his helmet off. Rohit and his batting partner Mohammad Nabi just punched each other’s gloves after the boundary. Rohit not celebrating his century impressed former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee.
"Rohit Sharma scored a brilliant hundred. The fact that he went out there, scored at a good clip too. I liked it when he scored his hundred, he didn't even raise his bat. For me, it shows that the win means more than his personal milestone. You know, he played with real intent right from ball one. He played shots all around the ground, but then the power and the finesse came into play. 105 not out of 63 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes, just unfortunately, you can't do everything on your own," Lee said on Jio Cinema.
No support for Rohit in run chase
Rohit carried his bat in the run chase after scoring 105 runs from 63 balls featuring 11 fours and five sixes. Rohit lacked support from other batters. Only Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma and Tim David scored in double digits. In the slog overs, skipper Hardik Pandya, Romario Shepherd and Nabi failed to hit a single boundary as the required run rate slipped out of MI's grasp.
He also entered the Orange Cap race. With the 105-run knock, he occupied the fourth spot. So far, he has scored 261 runs from six games at an average of 52.20.
Rohit enters unwanted list of IPL centurions
Rohit became the only MI batter to score two centuries. He also entered the rare list of batters in IPL history who have ended up on losing side despite scoring a century. Rajasthan Royals' (RR) skipper Sanju Samson and former India batter Yusuf Pathan are other two batters on the list.
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