Happy Birthday Rohit Sharma: When 'Hitman' scalped a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians in IPL

Rohit Sharma’s rise in the world of cricket has been narrated by his willow. The swashbuckling Mumbai batsman broke into the team as a middle-order batsman in 2008 after impressing in the domestic circuit. He made his mark while playing in the middle-order for India but missed the bus for the 2011 World Cup, which India won, due to inconsistent run with the bat.

But since, then it has been a roller-coaster ride for the ‘Hitman’, who has cemented his place as one of the greatest openers in the limited-overs circuit. He is also regarded as a fine captain after leading Mumbai Indians to a record four IPL titles while captaining India in numerous matches.

As Rohit is celebrating his 33rd birthday on Thursday, we take a look at a unique feat held by the Hitman in T20 cricket. Rohit is the only Indian player to have scored a century and taken a hat-trick in the history of Indian Premier League.

In the inaugural edition of IPL, Rohit was bought by Deccan Chargers for $7,50,000. Rohit went on to score 404 runs at a strike-rate of 147.98 but failed to continue his performance in the next edition of the cash-rich tournament. However, the elegant batsman did pick-up a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians, a team with whom he would go onto createhistory.

Rohit dismissed Abishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh and JP Duminy against Mumbai Indians and ended with figures of 2-0-6-4. Deccan Chargers further went on to win the IPL title that season whereas Rohit was named Emerging Player of the Year.

Rohit, has since never looked back and went on to create a legacy of his own.