May 7 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Rohit Sharma’s form in IPL 2024 has nosedived. The Indian captain started by scoring 261 runs in the first six games of the Mumbai Indians but as the tournament moved on, runs started to desert him. In the next six matches, Rohit managed just 69 runs. His strike rate too has plunged. In the first half, he was scoring at 167 but in the last six, it has come down to 115.
Reacting to Rohit’s sudden loss of form, former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock said people were talking about how not having the burden of captaincy has helped Rohit get his form back in the IPL but things have gone downhill in the last few games.
“He’ll be disappointed with that. He got off to a fiery start. Some people were saying, ‘Look he’s no longer captain so he’s getting back to his old form’. He’s still got two more games so hopefully he fires before he heads off to the World Cup,” Pollock said on Cricbuzz.
Pollock said the mode of Rohit’s dismissals would hurt him more. The MI opener got a leading edge while trying to hit a Pat Cummins short-pitched delivery with a closed bat face and Heinrich Klaasen took a simple catch against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Wakhede on Monday.
“It’s the manner in which he’s getting out that will be more concerning for him. He’s one of those when he’s playing straight down the ground, there’s not much that can go wrong, but he has tried to introduce a bit of a fiddly element to the game. To get the odd scoop here but he’s popping the odd one up in the air. If he gets a good nut, he won’t be too concerned, but to be honest, he’s kind of got out to soft dismissals, to be honest,” The South African great added.
Rohit was devasted, to say the least. Visuals of the MI great nearly breaking down to tears in the MI dressing went viral during the MI vs SRH match.
T20 World Cup squad selection played a part in Rohit’s dip in form
Pollock said the shift in focus for T20 World Cup may also have had an effect on Rohit’s batting form.
“I presume for the last few weeks, there has been a few conversations about trying to pick the Indian team. With that stress of finding the right balance, which player should be picked, all of a sudden, you are back in captaincy mode…. The naming of the side, going to the press conference, explaining why you have picked a certain may have added to the stress,” Pollock added.
MI have very little hope of making it to the playoffs but Rohit would like to use the remaining two league games to get some valuable runs under his belt so that he doesn’t go to the World Cup searching for form.