Rohit Sharma was a delighted man on Sunday. Not only he had led Mumbai Indians to yet another Indian Premier League playoffs, but the skipper also gave his daughter, Samaira a lot to cheer about by scoring a match-winning fifty in the last league match of the season at the Wankhede Stadium.
Watched on by his little daughter, Rohit Sharma tamed the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowling attack and helped Mumbai Indians gun down a 134-run target with nine wickets and 23 balls to spare. Eventually, MI leapfrogged Chennai Super Kings to finish on top of the IPL 2019 points table.
Rohit Sharma and his teammates went on a victory lap at the Wankhede after the emphatic win over KKR. Rohit was also joined by his daughter Samaira and wife Ritika Sajdeh.
Speaking to the broadcasters after MI's table-topping win on Sunday, Rohit said: "My daughter has been coming here every day to watch me play, but I didn't get a lot of runs earlier. It was nice to get some runs today, but she was sleeping!"
Notably, Rohit had come up with a cute little celebration, dedicating his fifty to Samaira after he got past the 50-run mark in Mumbai Indians' chase at the Wankhede.
Rohit hadn't been in the best of form in IPL 2019 but the Mumbai Indians captain seems to be peaking at the right time. The MI skipper has managed 386 runs from 13 matches at 32.16.
MI signed off from the Wankhede Stadium in style. They will now face Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday. Mumbai had beaten CSK in Chennai earlier this season but Rohit Sharma doesn't want his side to be complacent.
"In all the three trophies that we've won, the boys have picked themselves up in the business end. IPL is a funny tournament, any team can beat the other on a day and we want to take few tiny steps," Rohit said.Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga shone with the ball for MI on Sunday as the trio picked up seven wickets between them. In reply, Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav also chipped in with captain Rohit as MI finished the league stages on a high.
Praising the team effort, Rohit added: "It was the team effort that pleased me the most. We don't depend on a few individuals to take us through, there are a lot of characters who put their hand up and took us through. It is something we know about the IPL that the business end matters, we always come back well in the second half of this tournament."