3 milestones that Rohit Sharma can achieve in IPL 2024
Rohit Sharma enters IPL 2024 in a unique position. After a decade of leading the Mumbai Indians (MI) to an incredible five IPL titles, he gets replaced from the captaincy role by a returning Hardik Pandya. This season will be the first time since 2013 that Rohit will play solely as a batter and not lead the side.
This could lead to a resurgence in his batting performances. We might see the vintage "Hitman" return, freely expressing his aggressive strokeplay and scoring big runs without the pressure of captaincy on his shoulders.
It must be noted that Rohit has been one of those rare world-class batters, who has not set the tournament alight based on how lethal he can be. The all-format Indian skipper has failed to get a 450-run season in the last seven years.
However, as a celebrated batter and arguably one of the best white-ball openers, Rohit has a golden opportunity to etch his name in cricketing history by breaking several records.
On that note, let's take a look at three significant milestones that Rohit Sharma could achieve in IPL 2024.
#3 100 IPL catches
Apart from being a maestro in batting, Rohit Sharma is one of the safest fielders going around in world cricket. Although he may not have the agility of a youngster, his quick reflexes and wealth of experience rarely see him drop a catch.
Rohit is currently the outfielder with the fourth-most catches in IPL history, having bagged 98 catches in 243 innings. He is just two grabs short of becoming only the fourth player ever to complete 100 IPL catches.
#2 Can become the most capped MI player
Rohit Sharma enters IPL 2024 on the cusp of a historic milestone for the Mumbai Indians. Having already amassed a staggering 207 appearances for the franchise, he's just five games away from dethroning the legendary Kieron Pollard as the player with the most caps for MI.
During his 13-year long career, Pollard played 211 matches for the five-time champions.
Apart from this, Rohit is also just seven matches away from becoming only the second player ever to complete 250 IPL games. As of now, MS Dhoni remains the only cricketer to record 250 games in the cash-rich league. Rohit is currently jointly poised with Dinesh Karthik, with 243 IPL games under his belt.
#1 First Indian to hit 500 sixes in T20s
Inarguably the greatest six-hitter produced by India, Rohit is on the verge of setting another bar with his ability to smash sixes with ease.
With 487 maximums in T20s, he is by far the Indian with the most sixes in the shortest format of the game. The former MI skipper is 13 more maximums away from becoming the first ever Indian to hit 500 T20 sixes.
Only Chris Gayle (1056), Kieron Pollard (860), Andre Russell (668) and Colin Munro (548) have mustered more maximums than Rohit in T20s.