Mumbai Indians certainly couldn’t have asked for anything more from Rohit Sharma in his comeback game.

In what was a must-win clash at the Wankhede on Monday to keep their fading playoffs hopes alive, Impact Player Rohit delivered instantly with an innings (84 off
44 balls) characteristic of him, helping Mumbai to a six-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants.

Agreed, the Super Giants’ bowling was extremely poor as they kept feeding Rohit with one loose ball after another. But for a man out of the game for quite some time, to cash in on almost all the loose, ill-directed stuff, and produce an innings of such authority simply underlined Rohit’s class.

His opening partner Ryan Rickelton (83 off 32 balls) was just as good as the pair hammered 143 inside 11 overs. It laid the platform to overhaul the Super Giants’ 228/6 with eight balls remaining. While Rickelton’s innings featured six fours and eight sixes, Rohit finished with six boundaries and seven sixes, sparing not a single Lucknow bowler.

His missing out on a century was bit of an anti-climax, considering the ease with which he batted. But his dismissal in the 16th over mattered little as Naman Dhir
and Will Jacks had no problem in ensuring Mumbai pulled
off the highest-ever IPL chase at the Wankhede. And of course, stay just about alive in the competition.

Mumbai missed regular captain Hardik Pandya (out with a back spasm) with Suryakumar Yadav leading the team. Their start with the ball was poor as even Jasprit Bumrah, bowling two no-balls, was on the receiving end. Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran, who finally found form, made merry of Mumbai’s bowling, till Corbin Bosch removed both in the ninth over.

From there Lucknow started losing the tempo, with their skipper Rishabh Pant too failing again.