Rohit Sharma has been a beacon of batting excellence for Mumbai Indians right since he has joined the most successful IPL team. His numbers are pretty overwhelming which can very easily underline his batting flair as one of the fray’s bests.
From 188 games, Sharma has managed to rack up 4898 runs that saw him scoring at an average of 31.62 and an astonishing strike rate of 130.82. He also managed to smack one century and 36 half-centuries and vaunts about an unbeaten 109 as his IPL career-best. His best season until date was in 2013 where the Mumbai skipper managed to rack up 538 runs from 19 games.
Now, with all said and done, one of the controversies that always surround him is his dalliance with a few batting positions. He keeps on switching from the opening to number 6, according to his convenience. Earlier when he played the 2007 T20 World Cup, his usual position was pretty lower down the order. However, things changed after he found a consistent rhythm at the opening of the innings. Now the question is which position has reaped the best from the Indian Hitman?
Going by his positional analysis, Sharma’s best have come in the opening position as the Indian vice-captain has managed to rack up 1018 runs from the 34 games in which he opened. With 8 fifties in the opening spot, Sharma struck at a blistering rate of 130.51. His best in this position was an unbeaten 98.
At number three, Sharma has played 40 innings from which he managed to score 920 runs at a decent average of 25.56 which also saw him scoring his IPL career-best of 109. His striking rate at number 3 increased to 131.05.
He spent a lion’s share of his glittering career batting at number 4 where he went on to play 86 innings that saw him notching up 2392 runs at an astonishing average of 32.77. However, his strike rate dipped by a whisker as it went down to 128.67 while his best in this position was 94.
His success lower down the order was pretty limited as at the number five spot he went on to play only 22 innings that saw him drafting 563 runs at an average of 33.12. His best score in this position was 66 while his strike rate jumped up to 143.62, unleashing the monster in him.
He has played only one inning at number 6 where he stayed unbeaten for 5 runs, thereby throwing this option out of the window.
The above figures very clearly relay the fact that Sharma’s best comes out in the first three positions. It may very well be a possibility that Mumbai may keep Sharma until the 4th spot while they send out Lynn and De Kock to open followed by Suryakumar Yadav.
