IPL 2026 means much more than scoring runs to a leaner and fitter Rohit Sharma. Having committed only to playing ODIs, he must have a good season with Mumbai Indians to prove his keenness to play the 2027 World Cup.

Former India captain Anil Kumble is quite impressed with how Rohit has started the new season and he expects the opener's "2.0 avatar" to worry rivals throughout the edition.

"Rohit Sharma seems to have arrived in his 2.0 avatar, and his innings showed he is ready to dominate again. The way he hit the ball all around the ground reminded me of his prime," Kumble said on Star Sports, following Mumbai's win in their season-opener against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.

"It is not easy to hit sixes against bowlers like Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Blessing Muzarabani, but he made it look easy. He has worked a lot on his fitness, and when you come back after a short break, it takes five to seven days to get your timing back and find your rhythm.

"This was a fantastic innings...The six-hitting looked easy, and even though the boundaries were small, those shots were going into the stands," Kumble said.

While he had transformed himself physically, the former India captain showed at the Wankhede that batting-wise he's also in peak form: 78 off 38 balls, including six fours and as many maximums, at a strike-rate of 205.

The strike-rate surge wasn't something the management discussed with Rohit, but this new, aggressive version of his game is a natural evolution.

"Just him, he's freed himself up," Mumbai Indians' coach Mahela Jayawardene said after the game. "He's thinking much calmer, he's not the leader, there's less pressure on him. This happens... it happened to me as well in my last few years when I went and played franchise cricket.

"You practise less, but your muscle memory works. And you just go with the flow, you know, what the bowlers are trying to do. And once you're in that mode, you have that freedom which we've noticed in Rohit in the last couple of years. And we encourage him to go and do that, and the rest of the team is backing him to do that and I'm quite happy about it."

Jayawardene also mentioned Rohit's commitment and how he made sure he remained in the right frame of mind.

"I think after so many years I've had him from day one of the camp, he played some really good match practice games," Jayawardane said. "We had a lot of simulations for him, especially to get him going, and I was quite happy the way he was hitting the ball… I thought he batted brilliantly."

Captain Hardik Pandya was also effusive in his praise.

"It's a treat. I've seen batters play some terrific shots. But whenever I've seen Ro play some shots, I think it opens everyone's mouth. So, nothing short of exceptional, nothing short of brilliant," Pandya said.

The 38-year-old is all about desire, hunger and determination and it showed in his approach on Sunday night.