Virat Kohli might be the face of Indian cricket — and has been for some time — but there is an argument to say that Rohit Sharma is the brains.
Now captain of India in all three formats, at the age of 35, Rohit is recognised on the world stage for the elite player that he is. His international records make for fine reading, with 43 centuries across the Test, ODI and T20 formats.
And he's also a powerhouse in the Indian Premier League, having won the competition six times, five as captain.
Here is all you need to know about Rohit's IPL career, where his reputation as both a destructive and classy operator with the bat has only been enhanced...
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Rohit Sharma IPL team
Apart from three seasons with the Deccan Chargers in the first three seasons of the IPL, Rohit Sharma has been loyal to Mumbai Indians.
In the 2011 auction, he was put up for sale and bought for $2 million by Mumbai Indians — and what a decision that proved to be.
Has Rohit Sharma ever won the IPL?
Unlike his long-time friend and international teammate Kohli — who has never won the IPL with franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore — Sharma is one of the most decorated players in the tournament's history and the most successful captain in the IPL.
He's won it six times, first with the Deccan Chargers in 2009 and then five times with the Mumbai Indians — all as captain — with titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. The IPL website call him 'Captain Marvellous' while he's also known as 'The Hitman'.
He took over the Mumbai Indians captaincy just before the 2013 season, and they won the Champions League T20 tournament that year, too.
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Rohit Sharma IPL stats
Rohit Sharma's IPL stats make for good reading, even if his mate Kohli is slightly ahead in the run-getting stakes.
Still, the 35-year-old is averaging above 30 and striking at almost 130, which is considered excellent by anyone's standards.
Rohit Sharma all-time IPL stats
| Innings | Runs | High Score | Average | Strike Rate | 50s | 100s | Sixes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 240 | 6136 | 109 | 29.64 | 129.94 | 41 | 1 | 255 |
Rohit Sharma IPL history
Going into the 2023 tournament, Sharma is one of six players to have scored 5,000 runs or more in the IPL, with Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan the only two men ahead of him in the charts.
He scored his only IPL century in the 2012 season with an awesome 109 not out against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
He's almost always opened the batting in T20 cricket, although earlier in his career he enjoyed some solid displays for Deccan Chargers in the middle order, blasting 362 runs in the 2009 season to propel them to the title.
It's arguable that Rohit's most telling contributions in the IPL have come as a captain rather than a batter. He turned the Mumbai Indians' fortunes around when he got the armband in 2013 after they'd been the 'nearly men' in the previous three seasons, losing out in either the playoffs or the final.
He did win player of the match in the 2015 final after scoring a quickfire 50 from No.3, guiding MI to a total of 202/5, which proved to be enough for a 41-run win.
He's now tasked with a major rebuild of the franchise, after they retained just four players — Rohit included — for the 2022 season and then finished bottom of the pile. Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav were the other men retained. Bumrah will miss 2023 with injury, so Sharma heads up a recently assembled squad whose new additions include Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff.
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Rohit Sharma IPL schedule
It's Sharma versus Kohli in the Mumbai Indians' opening game of the IPL 2023, with Royal Challengers Bangalore first up.
Here is the full group schedule that Rohit and his teammates will have to negotiate to win yet another crown.
Mumbai Indians 2023 IPL schedule
| Date | Opponent | Result |
| April 2 | Royal Challengers Bangalore (A) | Lost by 8 wickets |
| April 8 | Chennai Super Kings (H) | Lost by 7 wickets |
| April 11 | Delhi Capitals (A) | Won by 7 wickets |
| April 16 | Kolkata Knight Riders (H) | Won by 5 wickets |
| April 18 | Sunrisers Hyderabad (A) | Won by 14 runs |
| April 22 | Punjab Kings (H) | Lost by 13 runs |
| April 25 | Gujarat Titans (A) | Lost by 55 runs |
| April 30 | Rajasthan Royals (H) | Won by 6 wickets |
| May 3 | Punjab Kings (A) | Won by 6 wickets |
| May 6 | Chennai Super Kings (A) | Lost by 6 wickets |
| May 9 | Royal Challengers Bangalore (H) | Won by 6 wickets |
| May 12 | Gujarat Titans (H) | Won by 27 runs |
| May 16 | Lucknow Super Giants (A) | — |
| May 21 | Sunrisers Hyderabad (H) | — |
*All teams play 14 games, not all sides play each other both home and away.
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