Eden diary: Rohit Sharma disappoints, leaves fans asking if he will be back

The 40,000-odd fans who made their way to Eden Gardens on an extremely humid evening on Wednesday, 20 May, must have wanted to see home team Kolkata Knight Riders win to stay alive with a slim chance of making the IPL 2026 play-offs. If there was anything else on their agenda, it was also to see Rohit Sharma provide some fireworks in what could arguably be his last innings in competitive cricket at this venue.

However, there was disappointment on that front as the ‘Hitman’ was foxed by a change of pace from rookie left-arm pacer Saurabh Dubey, holing out beyond mid-wicket for Cameron Green to complete an extremely well judged catch to trigger an early collapse. A laboured innings of 15 off 13 balls, which included two of his trademark effortless sixes, hence came to an end.

The question, which weighed in the minds of some of Rohit’s fans at the clubhouse during a lengthy rain stoppage was whether the white ball giant — who will be 40 next year — be back at this venue where he is called the ‘King of Eden.’

Technically speaking, Rohit along with Virat Kohli is in the running for berths in the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe (October-November), but it remains to be seen how he would figure in the MI management’s scheme of things next year.

The MI management is believed to be extremely unhappy at the way the season had panned out for them for they were the first team to go out of reckoning. A rash of injuries, including a hamstring issue for Rohit, along with a captaincy crisis of sorts did not help the campaign.

It’s not for nothing that Rohit considers Eden his ‘second home’ after Wankhede Stadium — as it has been witness to a number of his career landmarks. The greatest of them was in 2014, when a young Rohit shattered the record for the highest individual score in ODI history with a mammoth 264 against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens.

The year before, he scored a magnificent 177 on his Test debut against the West Indies at the venue in 2013. There have been a number of memorable moments for him in IPL as well as back in 2012, he struck his first-ever century in the T20 league — an unbeaten 109 against the Knights. He had also led the Mumbai Indians to two of their IPL title victories in finals played  here in 2013 and 2015.