OTD 2011: Rohit Sharma debuted for Mumbai Indians, led them to 5 IPL titles in 9 years

On this day in 2011, Rohit Sharma made his debut for Mumbai Indians in the coveted IPL (Indian Premier League). The star batter scored an unbeaten 27* off 30 balls while chasing a paltry total of 96 runs against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. In the following years, the 38-year-old became instrumental in making MI one of the greatest T20 teams of all time.

The Indian ODI skipper was a part of the Deccan Chargers from 2008 to 2010. The star player was part of the IPL-winning team in 2009, where he played a bigger role as a bowler than as a batter. Ahead of the 2011 season, the Chargers released the then-younger player. MI recognised Rohit's talent and got him on board.

Things did not change for the Mumbai-based franchise overnight. Despite making it to the playoffs, MI were not able to win the title until the 6th edition of the league. In 2013, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar started to fade away and stepped down from the playing XI, which led to the nomination of Rohit Sharma as MI's full-time captain.

Rohit Sharma's influence on Mumbai Indians' T20 legacy

After losing two of their first seven matches, MI made a terrific comeback under Sharma's leadership and won their maiden title by beating CSK in the finals, which led to the start of a new journey in the IPL. For the next 7–8 years, CSK and MI crossed paths and faced each other to win multiple titles.

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MI won the IPL title in the 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020 seasons. Additionally, they also won the Champions League T20 in 2013 under Sharma's captaincy. They hold the record for the joint-most number of IPL titles and CLT20 title wins along with CSK.

Individually, Rohit has 5,769 runs in 221 innings at a batting average of 29.28 and a strike rate of 131.05, including 2 hundreds and 36 fifties for the Mumbai-based franchise. The star batter is MI's highest run-scorer and one of the most influential players in the franchise's history.