The Mumbai Indians skipper's lacklustre run with the bat in the IPL continued through to the tournament's 16th edition where his team fell at the Eliminator.
Even as Mumbai Indians’ (MI) late ascent into the playoffs may have hidden some of his batting blues, Rohit Sharma remains under scrutiny for enduring yet another lacklustre individual campaign in IPL 2023. Prominent experts and fans have been lashing out at the elegant batter for consistently letting his team down at the crease and plaguing their growth.
Of those, former India batter turned commentator Aakash Chopra said while Rohit continues to be a strong captain with his decision-making, his batting output and a sustained dip in performances might get the MI think-tank revisiting the longstanding association with the experienced head.
Chopra said the Mumbai franchise wouldn’t openly express it just yet, but there would be a sense of disappointment with their skipper for not doing justice to his batting self in the middle, especially after they failed to make it past the Eliminator having stuttered along for the majority of the league stage.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the leading commentator said this might lead to the franchise and the player ultimately partying ways in the not-so-distant future where MI might finally put Rohit Sharma’s individual performances under greater scanner and make a decision around it.
Chopra’s remarks came on the back of yet another poor Rohit Sharma campaign in the IPL. The MI skipper and their trusted top-order incumbent did collect 332 runs, but they were made over 16 innings at a pedestrian average of 20.75 and a middling strike-rate of 132.80 in a high-scoring tournament.
It wasn’t a one-off, however, Rohit has been an IPL failure for upto seven seasons now. Not since the 2016 season has the veteran right-hander managed to retain an average of upto 30 while comfortably nailing it at a strike-rate past 130. In his last 100 innings for MI, the batter has struck just 13 scores of fifty and more, and is averaging a measly 24.60 with a below-par SR of 127.35.
“Rohit didn’t really come to the party,” Chopra said. “Although he captains very well, the franchise might think that it’s not turning out to be a fruitful partnership if he does not do well consistently as he has an extremely important position in the batting order.”
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Over the past two years, including in T20Is for India, Rohit Sharma has made an evident effort to fasten his rate of scoring by taking on the aggressive route. However, the 36-year-old has endured a further dip in his consistency going down this path, perhaps feeling the heat with his slowing down reflexes in the back half of his thirties.
“This has become a sort of pattern and it is not a good thing. He started very slowly, then was dismissed for zero twice in a row, and it seemed it would turn out very bad. Then he did score a few runs for sure but we saw quite a few times that he got out while trying to play a big shot,” Chopra added.
