IPL 9 Player of the Week: Rohit Sharma

NEW DELHI: Two wins in the last week have lifted defending champions Mumbai Indians to second spot on the IPL 2016 leaderboard, just two behind Gujarat Lions. In the same period (April 26-May 1), Suresh Raina's Gujarat played three games, winning two and losing on Sunday. For his role in leading Mumbai to two wins, and finishing the job with the bat, Rohit Sharma is our Player of the Week.
In game 24 of the season, Mumbai were set a target of 175 by Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium - their last home game before matches are shifted out of Maharashtra - and leading them to victory was Rohit with an unbeaten 68 from 49 balls.Victory would not have been possible without Kieron Pollard's electric unbeaten 51 from just 17 balls after KKR reeled the home team back to 106/4 in 13 overs, but Rohit's innings was the one that guided the chase through choppy waters.
Parthiv Patel fell first ball of the second over, but the chase was steadied by Rohit and Ambati Rayudu, who made 32 off 20 balls. From 67/2, Mumbai slipped to 78/3 when Sunil Narine bowled Krunal Pandya and then 106/4 when Jos Buttler was excellently taken by Chris Lynn off the same bowler.
At this stage Rohit was 50 off 36 balls. He immediately hit two fours off Andre Russell, then took a back seat as Pollard erupted with three sixes in one over from R Sathish. The win was sealed with three consecutive sixes from Pollard in the 18th over, but Rohit was named Man of the Match for his 68. With this win, Mumbai jumped to third place.
Three evenings later, Mumbai were chasing 160 versus Rising Pune Supergiants. This time, Rohit finished the chase with 85 not out off 60 balls for another MOM award. While Parthiv (21) and Rayudu (22) made cameos, Rohit continued his impressive run - four of his five fifties this season have come in successful chases - in an innings that contained eight fours and three sixes.
The impetus came in the third over, with the skipper hitting Thisara Perera for a six and two fours. That set in motion another fluent innings, which ended with Rohit swatting M Ashwin over square leg for six. Victory came in 18.3 overs, and Mumbai were second on the IPL table. Once again, Rohit was Man of the Match.