In what could be a big blow to the Mumbai Indians (MI), former captain Rohit Sharma has retired hurt mid-way through the team’s run-chase against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday. The Hitman managed to last for a little over five overs, after which he was forced to walk off the field. Rohit now joins Virat Kohli on the bench as the latter did not take the field in the 2nd innings due to a potential injury, as per the commentators.
Rohit Sharma suffers hamstring injury
At the start of the 5th over, MI’s physio came out to attend to Rohit as he complained of pain in his hamstring. Two deliveries later, he decided to walk off the field as he was clearly struggling. The Hitman was replaced by Suryakumar Yadav in the middle. Sharma’s abrupt decision to retire hurt due to a hamstring issue comes as a huge blow for the Mumbai Indians, who still need over 170 runs in the run chase against RCB.
Rohit was quite slow during his time out in the middle and managed to score just 19 runs from 13 deliveries before he walked off the field. Rohit’s scores in IPL 2026 are as follows: 78, 35, 5, and 19. Meanwhile, Rohit also achieved a unique feat as he became the first batter to score over 6000 runs for MI.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli did not take the field in the 2nd innings. As per the commentators, he has suffered an ankle injury as a result of which he is on the bench at present. Kohli scored 50 off 38 deliveries, striking five fours and one six. He was involved in a 120-run opening partnership with Phil Salt and a 65-run partnership with captain Rajat Patidar before he was sent packing. It took 37 balls for Virat to reach his fifty as he played with a strike rate of 131.58.
Before IPL 2026, both Rohit and Kohli were last seen in action in the series against New Zealand earlier in January. Both cricketers are active in only one format of the game in international cricket – ODIs – as they have retired from Tests and T20Is. Injuries to the stalwarts could have a huge impact on both RCB and MI, as Ro-Ko are one of their primary run-getters.
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