Rohit’s 81 vs GT helps him win 21st PoTM; Extends his unique record

Full l of most Player of the Match (PoTM) titles in IPL: As Mumbai Indians reached the penultimate stop of the Indian Premier League after beating Gujarat Titans in the Eliminator in Mullanpur on Saturday, Rohit Sharma was adjudged the Player of the Match (PoTM) for his match-defining 81 off 50, which laid the base for the five-time champions to put a big total on the board.
After deciding to bat first, the Hardik Pandya side got off to a blazing start thanks to their latest replacement, England’s Jonny Bairstow. It didn’t seem as if Bairstow was playing his first game in this IPL 2025 and took Prasidh Krishna — the Purple Cap holder this season — to the cleaners right from the get-go with ease.
In an innings which had multiple reprieves for former India Test captain Rohit punished GT for their makes. Rohit was dropped Gerald Coetzee when he was batting on just three off Krishna before GT’s replacement keeper Kusal Mendis grassed his catch in the very next over when the Mumbai batter was batting on 12.
Story continues below this ad

After that, Rohit was just flawless. He struck nine fours and four sixes, to become the first Indian to hit 300 maximums in IPL en route to his 81. He added 84 for the opening wicket in just 44 deliveries before stitching another fifty-stand, this time with Suryakumar Yadav for the third wicket. His third wicket stand with Tilak Varma was worth 43 off 22 before he was dismissed when Rashid Khan caught him, finally, off Krishna.
His slambang innings helped MI post 228, which eventually turned out to be sufficient as MI beat GT 20 runs, making it into Qualifier 2, where they will face Punjab Kings for a place in the final, which will be against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
This was Rohit’s 21st PoTM in IPL, the most any Indian and overall third-most after AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle.
De Villiers, who played for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru throughout his career, was instrumental in numerous wins for his teams and won the Player of the Match award for a record 25 times. Gayle sits second with 22 awards.Story continues below this ad
Among Indians, Virat Kohli (19) sits second, MS Dhoni (18) sixth, and Yusuf Pathan (16) is ninth in the l. Another big match winners like David Warner, Sunil Narine, Shane Watson and Andre Russell also find themselves in the top 10 l of players with the most PoTM.
Players with most PoTM in IPL

Rank
Player
Matches
Inns
Runs
Wkts
Awards

1
AB de Villiers
184
170
5162
0
25

2
Chris Gayle
142
141
4965
18
22

3
Rohit Sharma
271
266
7038
15
21

4
Virat Kohli
266
258
8618
4
19

5
David Warner
184
184
6565
0
18

6
MS Dhoni
278
242
5439
0
18

7
Sunil Narine
189
122
1780
192
17

8
Shane Watson
145
141
3874
92
16

9
Yusuf Pathan
174
154
3204
42
16

10
Andre Russell
140
115
2651
123
16