Axar Patel traps Rohit Sharma for fourth time in IPL
What's the story
Mumbai Indians (MI) opener Rohit Sharma fell prey to Axar Patel for the fourth time in his Indian Premier League (IPL) career. The incident happened during MI's match against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday. Despite a good start, Rohit couldn't convert it into a big score and was dismissed for 35 off 26 balls (five fours, one six). Here we decode Rohit's stats versus Axar.
Bowling tactics
Here's how Axar dismissed Rohit
The match started on a disappointing note for MI as they were reduced to 18/2 batting first. However, Rohit and stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav (51) managed to build a partnership for the third wicket before Axar broke it by dismissing Rohit in the 10th over. The dasher mistimed an aggressive shot off Axar Patel's slightly slower delivery, pitched wide outside off. The ball went straight to cover, where Nitish Rana was stationed.
Rivalry
Axar has had the edge over Rohit
Axar is among the few bowlers who have kept Rohit quiet in the cash-rich league. As per ESPNcricinfo, the left-arm spinner has now trapped him four times across 11 innings. No other left-arm spinner has dismissed Rohit more often in IPL. Moreover, Rohit has scored 67 runs against him at a paltry strike rate of just 87.01. His average is also a poor 16.75.
Record-breaking feat
Rohit breaks MS Dhoni's record
Despite his dismissal, Rohit Sharma achieved a major milestone in the match. He hit a six off Vipraj Nigam in the seventh over, taking his tally to 51 sixes against Delhi Capitals. The feat broke MS Dhoni's record of 50 sixes against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, making him the Indian batter with the most sixes against a single IPL team.
Stats
Here are their overall stats
Axar bowled a brilliant spell, finishing with figures of 1/22 across four overs in the game. This spell took his IPL tally to 130 wickets from 164 IPL matches at an average of 31.42. His economy rate reads 7.32 (4W: 1). Last season, Rohit became the second batter in IPL history to complete 7,000 runs after Kohli (8,730). The former has raced to 7,159 runs from 274 matches at 29.95 (50s: 48, 100s: 2).
Summary
DC prevail in the contest
The 3:30pm IST match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi witnessed MI post 162/6 in 20 overs. As mentioned, SKY and Rohit powered the team's total. Mukesh Kumar was the pick of the bowlers for DC, returning with impressive figures of 2/26. In response, Sameer Rizvi's superb knock of 90 helped DC claim a six-wicket win.