IPL 2020: Ricky Ponting picks the most dangerous player from Mumbai Indians squad

The hype for the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League is notching up with every passing day. The T20 extravaganza, after several delays, is finally set to roll out on September 19th, with defending champions Mumbai Indians facing Chennai Super Kings in the season opener at Abu Dhabi.

The Mumbai franchise, along with being the defending champions, has won the IPL title the most times. MI have clinched the trophy on four occasions– 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Australia legend and current head coach of the Delhi Capitals’ franchise, Ricky Ponting has been naming one dangerous player from each IPL side in a series of videos.

Mumbai Indians vying for their fifth IPL title

When it came to picking one dangerous player from the Mumbai Indians, Ponting didn’t hesitate to pick his former MI teammate Rohit Sharma. The current MI skipper had taken over from Ponting as captain of the franchise in 2013. There has been no looking back for Rohit ever since he donned the skipper’s hat.

We asked @RickyPonting to name each IPL club's most dangerous player. Today: @mipaltan, and there was really only one choice… pic.twitter.com/dyZMOBnmhr

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 16, 2020

Tasting success as the skipper of MI, Rohit also etched his name as one of the most successful batsmen of the modern era. Rohit is amongst the highest run-getters in the tournament and is the only player to win the IPL five times– four times as a skipper and one when he was a part of Deccan Chargers in 2009.

Rohit has donned the Indian jersey in 224 ODIs, 108 T20Is, and 32 Tests so far, where he has gathered 14029 runs across all three formats. He was in stellar form in 2019 and he’ll be expected to deliver a similar show with the bat in IPL 2020 too.

He will be aiming to steer MI to their fifth IPL title. However, he first will have to deliver on the UAE soil. The franchise had lost all the five matches when the first half of IPL 2014 was played in the UAE due to general elections in India.

Rohit, an integral cog of Mumbai Indians’ wheel, has the experience of playing 188 IPL games. In his IPL voyage, he has scored 4898 runs with one century and 36 half-centuries. The ‘Hitman‘ averages 31.60 and has a strike rate of 130.82 in the cash-rich league.