Full list of most Player of the Match (PoTM) awards in IPL: Rohit’s 81 vs GT helps him win 21st PoTM; Extends his unique record

In an innings which had multiple reprieves for former India Test captain Rohit punished GT for their mistakes. Rohit was dropped by 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.

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 by 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 by 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.

Among Indians, Virat Kohli (19) sits second, MS Dhoni (18) sixth, and Yusuf Pathan (16) is ninth in the list. Another big match winners like David Warner, Sunil Narine, Shane Watson and Andre Russell also find themselves in the top 10 list of players with the most PoTM.

Players with most PoTM in IPL