Has been an extremely exciting and emotional journey: Rohit Sharma on 12 years with Mumbai Indians

New Delhi: India captain Rohit Sharma reflected on completing 12 years with Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying that the journey has been an extremely exciting and emotional one for him.

On January 8, 2011, at the first IPL mega auction in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Punjab Kings and Deccan Chargers, Rohit’s previous team in the IPL from 2008-10 were in a three-way fight to get the services of the right-handed opener.

Eventually, Mumbai got him in and since then, Rohit has been their talismanic batter who has captained them to five IPL triumphs (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020) and two trophies in the now-defunct Champions League T20 (2011 and 2013).

“I can’t believe it’s been 12 years at Mumbai Indians. It has been an extremely exciting and emotional journey for me. We’ve achieved so much together with stalwarts, youngsters and our Paltan.”

“Mumbai Indians is my family and I want to thank my fellow players, fans and management for all the love. Looking forward to creating many more memories and spreading more smiles for our Paltan,” said Sharma in an official statement by the franchise.

Rohit also won the Player of the Match award in the 2015 IPL final with a 26-ball half-century to propel the side towards a massive total against Chennai Super Kings. He is also MI’s highest run-scorer with 4982 runs (IPL + CL T20 statistics combined).

He is also the highest-capped player for Mumbai and has the second-most number of wins in the IPL as captain (81 wins out of 143 games). But after missing the playoffs in 2021, Mumbai had a disappointing last-place finish in the 10-team event in IPL 2022, winning just four out of 14 matches in the league stage.

On the international front, Rohit’s first appearance of 2023 as the skipper of the Indian team will come in the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka, when the first match will be played on January 10 in Guwahati, followed by games in Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram on January 12 and 15 respectively.

–IANS