MUMBAI: The fire still burns in their belly. The way Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have kicked off in IPL-2026, few would question whether they would last another 18 months in international cricket. Both the titans of Indian cricket ruled the first week of the League, ensuring that it got off to a spectacular start. While Kohli smashed a breathtaking 38-ball 69 not out to fashion Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 202-run chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru on Saturday night, a day later Rohit was even more brutal at the Wankhede Stadium against a hapless Kolkata Knight Riders attack. With his home crowd at the Wankhede Stadium, which adores him, applauding him all the way, the 38-year-old blasted a power-packed 78 off 38 balls, which included six sixes and as many fours, to help the Mumbai Indians pull off their highest chase ever in the IPL-making a mockery of a 221-run target and ending MI’s 14-year jinx of losing the first match of the IPL.
Clearly, both the ageing modern-day greats seem to be playing from muscle memory in white-ball cricket, which kicks in when a batter has spent years at the crease.The beauty about Rohit’s sublime knock on Sunday night was the way he was executing his strokes without minimum fuss, especially on the off-side as he and fellow opener Ryan Rickelton (81 off 43 balls) were in full cry, added 148 in just 72 balls to seal the game, set and match for MI.The way Rohit batted, it hardly looked that the veteran batter was playing a competitive T20 match after ten months-he last played in the format in the second qualifier against Punjab Kings on June 1 in IPL-2025. Yet, in his first match of his 18th year in the IPL, he did not remotely appear to be rusty, but seemed to be operating on a different plane. He dominated the KKR bowlers, who looked like lambs up for a slaughter on the Lion’s den, from the start. Unleashing pleasing inside-out lofted drives over extra cover, and his trademark pull shots and cross-batted swipes to deep mid-wicket.Rohit tore into the pace trio of Vaibhav Arora, Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani, Kartik Tyagi.In the fifth over, he got stuck into struggling spinner Varun Chakravarthy, driving the spinner for a four and six through the covers before flicking the ball over backward square leg for another four.By the end of the powerplay, he had galloped to a 23-ball fifty – it was his landmark 50th half-century in the IPL and also his fastest-ever in the League. Only Virat Kohli (72), David Warner (66) and Shikhar Dhawan (53) have scored more IPL fifties than the Mumbaikar. “Rohit Sharma seems to age like fine wine. He last played a T20 game in June 2025, (and) the shots he played tonight…This is fabulous to watch,” praised MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene at the post-match press conference after MI’s six-wicket win on Sunday.While Rohit now plays only one format now, and featured only in the ODIs against New Zealand in Jan, he has left no stone unturned while preparing for the IPL. He reported to the MI camp early this year and spent long hours at the nets, facing his MI captain Hardik Pandya and other pacers. In the lead-up to MI’s opening match, he looked in good nick in the nets, hitting some trademark big shots. “He was fresh. I think after so many years I’ve had him from day one of the camp, he played some really good match practice games. We had a lot of simulations for him, especially to get him going, and I was quite happy, the way he was hitting the ball… I thought he batted brilliantly,” Jayawardene said.Jayawardene said Rohit was enjoying a phase of his career where he was not burdened with the responsibility of captaincy.“It has freed him up. He is thinking much calmer. He is not the leader (so there is) less pressure on him. This happens; it happened to me as well in my last few years when I went and played franchise cricket.”“You practice less, but your muscle memory works and you just go with the flow. You know what the bowlers are trying to do and once you are in that mode, you have that freedom which we noticed in Ro in the last couple of years. And we encourage him to go and do that, and the rest of the team is backing him to do that and I’m quite happy about it.”It eventually took a brilliant fielding effort from Anukul Roy, who sprinted backwards from mid-on and dived to catch the ball, to stop Rohit from reaching his century. Over the years, the India superstar has endured lean IPLs, perishing too early while trying to be ultra-aggressive from ball one. This time, though, he seems to have found the right way to take down the bowlers, and looks to be in a mood to roll back the years and showcase his vintage class. Having lost 15 kgs and looking much younger, apart from being leaner and fitter in the twilight years of his career, Rohit looks hungry to take MI to IPL title No 6. Sunday night’s ‘special’ was clearly a warning shot by the class act to all the bowlers in the tournament.
