Rohit’s 2.0 avatar will worry all IPL teams: Kumble

Former India spinner Anil Kumble lauded Rohit Sharma’s batting show against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he scored the fastest fifty in IPL history, saying the opener arrived this season in his “2.0 avatar”, which will be a sign of worry for other franchises in the league. Mumbai Indians ended a 13-season jinx by winning their first opening match with a clinical six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders. Rohit played a brilliant knock of 78 off 38. He reached his fifty-run mark off 23 balls. This is his fastest half-century in IPL so far. His previous fastest was off 25 balls, which came against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 2015 final at Eden Gardens. “Rohit Sharma seems to have arrived in his 2.0 avatar, and his innings showed he is ready to dominate again. The way he hit the ball all around the ground reminded me of his prime. It is not easy to hit sixes against bowlers like Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine and Blessing Muzarabani, but he made it look easy,” Kumble said on JioStar. The former MI skipper, who has won five IPL titles so far, scored his 50th fifty-plus score in the IPL, becoming the fourth batter to do so in the 19 editions of the league. “He has worked a lot on his fitness, and when you come back after a short break, it takes five to seven days to get your timing back and find your rhythm. This was a fantastic innings, very similar to what we have seen at Wankhede where he takes on the bowlers from the first ball. The six-hitting looked easy, and even though the boundaries were small, those shots were going into the stands. This knock shows that Rohit means business and this version of him will worry all IPL teams,” he added.