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Mumbai Indians’ (MI) campaign started with a patchy two consecutive losses but they put up a strong show and launched a stunning comeback in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). MI's batting line-up has started firing now and has played an instrumental role in scripting five wins out of their last seven games. Some strong middle order performances from Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma and fiery finishers in Australian dazzling duo of Cameron Green and Tim David have kept MI's hopes alive in top-4 race. But the only weak link in the batting order has been their five-time title-winning captain Rohit Sharma.
He continued his lackluster show with the willow in the IPL 2023 as he returned to pavilion after recording a duck against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Wednesday (May 3). However, Paltans rode on Ishan Kishan (75 off 41) and Suryakumar Yadav's (66 off 31) blitzkriegs to pull off a monumental chase of 215.
But Rohit's long-standing lean patch in IPL only extended in the tie extended PBKS. His overall performance so far has been under-par as well with just 184 runs in nine matches. His approach has been to attack from ball one but hasn’t really yielded much so far in the sixteenth edition of the cash-rich league.
However, Hitman's failures have been overshadowed by rest of the MI's batter who are scoring well. But MI will want their leader to fire with the bat going ahead in the tournament.
Quick Story: Rohit Sharma's DUCK-TALE continues in IPL
Meanwhile, Australia great Tom Moody compared the role of Rohit Sharma in MI with MS Dhoni’s role in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) of being more of a leader and mentor. He pointed out that Rohit's poor form is not yet alarming for the MI team as it should be.
"When you have batting depth of quality, that MI have, you can be patient with someone like Rohit Sharma because of the value that he brings to the table as captain. You look at the value that MS Dhoni has had for CSK. He has only had a couple of impacts with the bat and that's purely because he is sitting back in the batting order," Moody told broadcasters during PBKS versus MI match.
"There is more to Rohit Sharma than the batsman. It's the leader, it's the calm and successful mind. He is a multiple championship-winning captain," Moody added.
With this win Rohit-led Mumbai are placed sixth in the IPL 2023's points table as they have won five out of nine matches they have played so far. They will be facing CSK next on May 6 at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.
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