Rohit Sharma produced one of the most entertaining moments of IPL 2026 so far during Mumbai Indians’ innings against Delhi Capitals at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday — deliberately pretending to walk off after a Kuldeep Yadav delivery to con DC into burning a review.
The incident unfolded in the fifth ball of the ninth over. Kuldeep bowled one drifting down leg, Rohit went for the sweep, missed the ball entirely, and it deflected off his pads to KL Rahul behind the stumps. The on-field umpire gave it not out. But Rohit, cool as ever, started walking — as if he had edged it.
The umpire hadn’t raised his finger. Delhi Capitals, seeing Rohit apparently accept his fate, took the bait. Axar Patel called for a DRS review, convinced there was an edge. Rohit turned around, shared a laugh with stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav at the non-striker’s end, and waited for the replays.
Ultra Edge showed no contact with the bat whatsoever. The ball had gone straight off the pad. Delhi had wasted a review — and Rohit had engineered the whole thing.
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Rohit Sharma: “I Know Kuldeep Very Well”
At the innings break, Rohit explained exactly what he was doing.
“I know Kuldeep very well, he likes to take the DRS,” Rohit told JioHotstar. “As soon as there is a 50-50 chance, he goes for it. So I was just trying my luck there.”
It was vintage Rohit — part gamesmanship, part mischief. He knew Kuldeep’s instinct would be to review any half-appeal, and he exploited it by making the dismissal look more convincing than it was. The fake walk was deliberate bait, and Delhi swallowed it whole.
The incident drew instant reactions on social media, with fans hailing Rohit’s cricket IQ. In a format where DRS reviews can be decisive — especially in close finishes — tricking the opposition into burning one in the ninth over is a genuine tactical move disguised as cheekiness.
Rohit Sharma Couldn’t Capitalise
The irony, though, is that Rohit couldn’t make the reprieve count. He had been looking comfortable at the crease, timing the ball sweetly through his favoured areas and building a steady partnership with Suryakumar Yadav after Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Varma fell cheaply.
But in the very next over, Axar Patel got the last laugh. He floated one slightly wider outside off, Rohit went for the inside-out drive through cover but couldn’t get enough elevation. Nitish Rana held a sharp catch, and Rohit departed for 35 off 26 balls, an innings that included crisp boundaries against Lungi Ngidi and Kuldeep but ended just as he looked set to accelerate.
The knock was useful in stabilising MI’s innings after early wobbles — Rickelton fell to Mukesh Kumar for 9 and Tilak Varma was dismissed for a duck in the same over. But a batter of Rohit’s calibre would have wanted to go much deeper, especially on a surface where the short Arun Jaitley Stadium boundaries reward aggression.
MI Bat First Without Hardik Pandya
Mumbai Indians were already without captain Hardik Pandya for this fixture with Suryakumar Yadav stepping in as captain. MI made three changes from their KKR win: Deepak Chahar, Corbin Bosch, and Mitchell Santner came in for Pandya, Trent Boult, and Allah Ghazanfar.
Without their captain and primary allrounder, MI’s batting revolved around Suryakumar, who anchored the innings with a fifty before falling to Ngidi. The supporting acts — Naman Dhir (28 off 21) and a late cameo from Corbin Bosch — helped MI post a competitive total after being 28 for 3 in the powerplay.
But the moment everyone will remember from MI’s innings is Rohit Sharma strolling down the pitch with a grin, pretending to be out, and making Kuldeep Yadav pay for his trigger-happy DRS finger.
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