Going into the T20 World Cup next month, Rohit is aware that he could do with some runs and time in the middle under his belt, starting with Monday night’s tie for the Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium.
When he was removed from MI captaincy before this season, head coach Mark Boucher had hoped that the decision would allow Rohit, who was in fine touch going into IPL, to “play more freely and take his team to the playoffs.”
However, things haven’t exactly panned out the same way for the man who led MI to five IPL titles, but whose IPL form has been a concern for a few years now owing to his tendency to be over-aggressive from ball one.
Since he slammed a century (105 not out off 63 balls) — his first in the IPL in more than a decade — against the Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium on April 14 in a 20-run defeat — Rohit’s scores have been 36, 6, 8, 4 and 11. Before that, his sequence of scores in the tournament read 43, 26, 0, 49 & 38. Overall, the 37-year-old has managed 326 runs in 11 matches@32.60 so far in IPL-2024.
In his last match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Rohit didn’t even field due to a mild back issue and only came to bat as an ‘Impact Player.’
There is a fair chance that given that the T20 World Cup is around the corner, the veteran opener would again turn out for MI as an ‘Impact Player’- ironic since he himself has been critical of the rule!
At the selection presser, India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar had made it clear that his committee pitched in for “experience” while picking the World Cup-bound squad, but Rohit’s poor IPL form does present a concern.
If Rohit finds his form, it will help MI, down and knocked out of the competition, salvage some of their battered pride. Although they lost their first eight matches on the trot in 2022, this somehow feels the worst season for MI in their history. Having suffered as many as eight defeats — four on the trot going into this game — in 11 matches, they languish at the last spot in the 10-team tournament.
While rumours and talk of their dressing room not being a happy place refuse to die, their big guns, barring pace ace Jasprit Bumrah (17 wickets in 11 matches@16.11) have failed to fire right through.
Placed far better at No 4 with 12 points in 10 matches (six wins and four defeats), the Sunrisers will eye another win which strengthens their playoff hopes.
For perhaps the first time since they reached the final in 2018, SRH, the 2016 IPL winners, are looking impressive.
Led astutely by Pat Cummins, they possess the tournament’s most dangerous batting line-up in openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, followed by Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy (smashed 76 not out off just 42 balls in the last match). Head’s contest with Bumrah has the potential to light up this game. Between them, Klaasen (31) and Abhishek (28) have smashed as many as 59 sixes in IPL-2024 so far-the maximum by anyone in the competition so far.
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