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It's been a pretty rough start to the IPL 2025 for not only the five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) but also for their former captain Rohit Sharma. Especially their batting lineup just hasn't been clicking the way everyone expects. With their captain, Hardik Pandya, pretty clearly stating that the batters need to step up, there's been a lot of attention on Rohit Sharma's form at the top of the order, which hasn't been quite up to par for the past few IPL seasons.
Rohit Sharma is at a stage in his career where he has to push himself: Sanjay Manjrekar
In their recent clash against Gujarat Titans (GT) which they lost by 36 runs, Rohit had another disappointing outing. Despite hitting a couple of boundaries early on, he was bowled out by Mohammed Siraj in the very first over. This comes right after his four-ball duck against CSK in their opening match of the season.
With his recent performances raising quite a few eyebrows, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels thing are slipping away from Rohit Sharma's hands. After the game, Manjrekar, while talking on Star Sports, also stressed how crucial it is for Rohit to show up for training and these matches with a real hunger to push himself and achieve his goals. He made a good point that natural talent tends to fade a bit as players get older, so it's going to take even more effort from a seasoned player like the six-time IPL champion to maintain his level of performance.
“Rohit Sharma is clearly going through a phase. He's not the Rohit Sharma of, say, three to four years ago. He’s at a stage in his career where he has to push himself every morning—train hard and be at his best—because things are slipping away for him. He's still relying on his natural talent and instincts,” Manjrekar said.
Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Vaughan has an advice for the India skipper. He said that Rohit just needs to pretend that he has got the Indian blues on and not MI blues.
"He just got to pretend that he has got the Indian blues on and not the Mumbai blues. He is such a good player. For Mumbai to travel the distance this year, he has got to get runs,” Vaughan said in Cricbuzz’s post-match show.“
“He has got to get his team off to flyers, his got to get back his confidence, his mojo. I just think Mumbai without Rohit Sharma firing, I don't think they will make the qualification (playoffs). He is one of those few players who can win a game on his own. Sometimes I watch Rohit, like in the Australia Test series, and he sometimes has that persona that he is not bothered when he is there. I am sure he is not like that,” said Vaughan regarding the matter of investment from the 37-year-old, who is retired from T20Is for India. “He needs to find that inner motivation. If he can find that, he can be very dangerous,” he concluded.
Rohit will look to find his mojo back in MI's next match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) which will be played on March 31.
