Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma, who came back to play after a hamstring injury, equalled an unwanted record in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history when he was dismissed off his first ball by Ravichandran Ashwin in Dubai.
The first qualifier saw the Hitman have a record of most ducks in the IPL history during Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC).
Ashwin, who bowled the 2nd over, trapped Rohit plumb in front of the middle stump to send him back on a golden duck. It was the 13th time that Rohit got out without scoring a run in the IPL.
This is the joint-most, and 3rd duck in the playoffs. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener Parthiv Patel also have 13 ducks in their IPL careers.
Rohit, who is the 4th highest scorer in IPL history, has had a poor record in IPL playoffs - 229 runs from 19 innings at an average of 12.72.
This was the second successive failure with the bat for Rohit since coming back from a hamstring injury. Kieron Pollard led MI in Rohit's absence for 4 games. The Indian vice-captain had managed just 4 in the previous encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) which MI lost by 10 wickets in the final league game.
As for the current clash, MI have made three changes to their team with Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Trent Boult coming back in the side in place of Dhawal Kulkarni, Saurabh Tiwary and James Pattinson. DC meanwhile, decided to go with their previous game squad.
The winner of Qualifier 1 will qualify for the final on November 10 in Abu Dhabi whereas the loser will get another chance in the second qualifier against either Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) or Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who will play the Eliminator on November 6 in Abu Dhabi.
