Rohit Sharma goes from rust to ruthless on IPL 2026 comeback with match-winning 84 vs LSG

Rohit Sharma sat out for nearly a month. After sustaining a hamstring injury on April 12, the former Mumbai Indians (MI) captain sat on the bench and saw his team lose 5 matches, including the one he was forced to leave midway. But MI still had hopes to qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Playoffs. Luckily, Rohit returned and helped Mumbai return to winning way with a well-made 84-run knock while chasing 229 against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Rohit Sharma shows rust on return

A fortuitous boundary off Mohsin Khan, while attempting a drive through the offside, kicked it off for Rohit. The upper edge went over Himmat Singh in the slip. In the third over, Mohammed Shami nearly had him as LSG went for a review. Bounce saved Rohit, as the ball was a couple of inches over the leg stump. In the fourth over, Mohsin troubled him again. Twice, he was beaten on the outside edge.

Find form after slow start

Rohit was just 15 (14) with one over left in the powerplay. There was some assistance for the fast bowlers, which was troubling him, and the rust of not playing for 3 weeks was showing. However, the old Rohit came back in the 6th over. He took Avesh Khan apart, smashing 21 off 6. The pacer wasn’t on the money, gifting him a slot ball outside. Rohit saw an opportunity to put pressure and jumped down the track to convert a good-length ball into a full toss and hammered it down the ground.

Avesh switched his length and went for a short slower ball. Rohit deposited him for a six. The quick was forced to try a yorker but erred and gave a juicy full toss on the legs that went sailing over the boundary. All of a sudden, Rohit looked like a million bucks. For the next couple of overs, Ryan Rickelton took over and smashed M. Siddharth and Avesh while he took the back seat and watched from the other end.

Aces chase

Rohit also took Siddharth for a six and reached his second fifty of the IPL 2026 season in 27 balls. Prince Yadav troubled him in the 10th over with his pace variations, but he survived as MI were 127/0 at the halfway mark. Rickelton went back for a well-made 83 (32) as Tilak Varma entered the middle. As the well-set batter, Rohit knew he needed to take the onus. So, he took Shami on, and 14 came off the next over as Rickelton departed, which ensured MI would stay ahead of the chase.

Avesh returned to deliver his third over, and Rohit took him down again. Unlike the powerplay over, Avesh escaped Rohit’s wrath. He did get hit for 2 boundaries, but gave 14 off it. LSG captain Rishabh Pant gave Siddharth another over since Rickelton departed, and the move worked as Rohit edged while trying to sweep and found Shami at short fine leg. But the job was done. MI needed a collective strike rate of 190.83 to chase 229 down, and Rohit scored 84 runs, about 40%, at 190.91. At the time of his dismissal, MI were 177/2, needing just 52 off 36 to win.

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