The Mumbai Indians captain, Rohit Sharma, is under pressure straightaway. Right at the start of the 2023 IPL. There are growing voices, mainly supporters of Mumbai Indians who would want to see Rohit dropped from the team because of poor form. He is the 3rd highest scorer in the history of the tournament with more than 5700 runs. However, those runs have come at a strike rate of 130. For an opening batsman, that too in a tournament where the quality of the opposition bowling is not that high, it is not an acceptable strike rate. Among the players who have scored that many runs, Rohit’s average is the worst and the strike rate the 2nd worst. So, should Rohit Sharma drop himself?
It is not difficult to fathom. There is a precedent and that too within Mumbai Indians itself. Ricky Ponting, the then captain of MI, dropped himself from the team on account of poor form and handed over the captaincy to Rohit. MI till that point didn’t win a single IPL trophy. Rohit effected a complete turnaround and Mumbai has since then won, 5 titles. All of them came under Rohit. Now, Rohit cannot be denied his credit because to win 5 trophies in close to 10 years is nothing short of incredible. However, all good things must come to an end.
Rohit is not a natural in T20
Rohit’s T20 cricket is not his strongest forte. He is not even among the good when it comes to the shortest format. Even when he plays for India, he seldom provides a quick start. Ofcourse, Rahul is also to be blamed but the expectation of Rohit is much higher. Rohit cannot be blamed for not getting off the blocks quickly because he does not belong to the current T20 generation. His game is tailored around Tests and ODI and at his age and with his fitness, it will not be practical to expect him to transform himself into beast mode. There is nothing wrong with that.
Having said that, it probably is time for him to step aside. It is unlikely that Rohit will again be considered for the Indian T20 squad. There are enough indications to the contrary. Hardik Pandya will likely take over the white-ball captaincy at the end of the ODI World Cup. Rohit Sharma and the likes of Virat Kohli will have to settle for Tests alone. Especially, if their performance with the bat deteriorates even further.
Under utilised powerplay overs
Not just in international cricket but even with IPL, Mumbai Indians have consistently not been able to make full use of the fielding restrictions. Ishan Kishan has been struggling since last year and coupled with Rohit’s inability to accelerate and score heavily, the powerplay invariably ends up below par. A quick 15 or 20 is not enough from the opening batsman. Again, it is unfair to expect that from Rohit who is not a natural T20 cricketer.
When Rohit won the 5 trophies, he had an explosive side in the Pandya brothers, Surya Yadav, Pollock and Bumrah and Boult with the ball. Over the last couple of seasons, Bumrah has been missing in action and there aren’t too many hitters down the order. This has resulted in Mumbai not having a successful run. A captain is only as good as the team that he leads has so far proved to be correct.
Agreed that it is not possible to win the trophy every year but what will worry the Mumbai management is the number of losses that the team is enduring. In 2022, they lost 7 straight games. It was unprecedented in the annals of the franchise.
Could there be a relation between not being at his best with the bat or with being the captain after he became the Indian captain across all the formats? It is not easy to be the captain and one of the main batsman game after game throughout the year. Virat Kohli found this though his batting did not suffer in the initial half.
“When as a team you are not able to win games of cricket, then obviously the pressure is highest on the captain I would say, so that does burden you,” added Zaheer.
Wrapping up should Rohit Sharma drop himself?
Dropping the Indian captain after what he has done for the franchise may probably be an extreme step but the time is here to move Rohit down the order. However, it is time for him to be removed from the captaincy. Every captain has a shelf life. Rohit is certainly past that. I am afraid he does not have anything more to offer Mumbai Indians. At the sametime, I do not think that the Mumbai Indians management is courageous enough to take such a stance at the beginning of the tournament. They will wait to see whether the franchise can qualify for the playoffs and if they fail to, Rohit will probably not be the captain for the 2024 season.
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