He has managed scores of 0, 8. and 13 in IPL 2025 so far
Mumbai Indians (MI) hoped to forget their woes of their past season and start the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 afresh. Hopes were renewed with their retention strategy and recruitment of young talent.
They are three games into the season with two defeats and one good win, but big questions linger. The chief one is directed at their batting, which has been on shaky ground.
The eight-wicket win over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders came while chasing a paltry 117. It was a gift from their hardworking bowling unit, with a massive chunk contributed by young opener Ryan Rickleton.
The majority of last season’s criticism was targeted at a returning Hardik Pandya for snatching away the captaincy from Rohit Sharma. This season, it is back to the usual.
After being lambasted for his batting in the home Tests against New Zealand, Border-Gavaskar Trophy and then in a Ranji Trophy game, Rohit recovered with a fluent hundred in the ODI series against England at Cuttack. His redemption seemed to be tracking well with a 76 in the summit clash against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy 2025.
Once the euphoria of that triumph in Dubai calmed down, his MI performances put him back in the flames. Scores of 0, 8, and 13, all as an Impact Player, sitting out of an innings.
To underline Rohit’s utility for the team, MI have won 62 matches when he has scored more than 25 runs with a strike rate of 146. Out of his 36 IPL fifties and two hundreds as an MI player, 25 fifties and one hundred have come in a winning cause.
Rohit’s long-time teammate and now MI batting coach Kieron Pollard feels that the opener has earned his place in the team and it is not to be questioned.
“There are times when you have a couple of low scores … he has earned the right as an individual to now enjoy his cricket and not be pressurised in certain situations. So let’s not judge on a couple of low scores,” Pollard said ahead of Friday’s clash against Lucknow Super Giants.
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In the last five years for MI, Rohit has managed to score 1,751 runs. It includes seven fifties and a hundred at a strike rate of 131. Meanwhile, he has averaged 32 in the first eight years at the franchise while scoring 29 fifties and a hundred.
There are two apparent things about Rohit in 2025. He has matured as a leader and commands the dressing room even if he is not the designated captain. There is also the visible decline in his batting powers, which once made him invincible.
Fortunately for India, the skipper managed to save his best for the big matches in recent times. But being dropped for the Sydney Test after a bunch of bad scores was a sign of things to come. If there are too many reds in the IPL going forward, it might happen again in June when India travels to England for a five-match Test series.
In ODIs, the good mood from the Champions Trophy win and his staggering numbers will act as the shield for some more time. Pollard waxed philosophical about an athlete’s career by saying,
“In cricket, we know we fail more than we succeed and I’m sure we’ll be singing his praises when he gives us that big score and then we’ll be on to the next hot topic.”
But as long as below-par performances continue for Rohit Sharma, the negativity will keep on piling. Those big scores better arrive at the right time.
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