Mumbai Indians (MI), the defending IPL 2023 champions, had a rocky start to their season. But have since found their footing and are currently third in the standings.
Sadly, Rohit’s subpar performance is not unique to this season. In five of his most recent six IPL seasons. The India captain has failed to surpass 400 runs scored.
Rohit Sharma hasn’t been playing at his best for a while
Rohit Sharma has now scored the most DUCKs in IPL’s history 🤯
📸: IPL/JioCinema#IPL2023 #CSKvsMI #crickettwitter pic.twitter.com/T858Gu41Gv
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) May 6, 2023
3) Rohit Sharma hasn’t done much to help the team with the bat.
The Mumbai franchise has been concerned about Rohit’s performance. The IPL veteran broke numerous white-ball records over the course of his illustrious career. And has performed at an all-time low for MI with the bat.
He was one of the season’s biggest busts even in IPL 2022. Scoring just 268 runs across 14 matches at a strike rate of 120 points and an average of 19 points.
The last time Rohit scored 80 runs or more in an IPL innings was in IPL 2018 when he scored 94 against RCB. This is a time when top-order batters have a great chance to score big.
2) Will release 16 crores
Rohit Sharma has been one of the Mumbai Indians’ highest-paid players ever since they acquired him in 2011. The team paid 13 crores for his services at the IPL 2011 auction before keeping him for 15 crores and 12 points 5 crores, respectively in 2013 and 2018.
Rohit has unquestionably contributed significantly to the success of the Mumbai-based franchise in the many years since he first joined them. Five IPL championships have been won by the team while he has served as a captain in the past eight years.
With Cameron Green making $17.50 crore, Ishan Kishan $15.25 crore and Jasprit Bumrah making $12 crore. MI already has some high-earning employees. They will be able to investigate several options up top if they can free up 16 crores from Rohit.
1) MI’s youth investment plan.
Mumbai Indians are arguably the best IPL team when it comes to discovering unique talents from domestic circuits and developing them into players who can compete with the best in the world.
Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Nitish Rana and Rahul Chahar are just a few of the players MI’s scouting team has been successful in identifying.
Even players like Yuzvendra Chahal, Nicholas Pooran, Jitesh Sharma and Josh Hazlewood were scouted by MI before they advanced in their respective careers.
The list is endless, the franchise has added some unique talents to its squad following the mega auction in 2022. People with talents like Tilak Verma, Nehal Wadhera and Dewald Brevis have already demonstrated. They will be in high demand in the years to come.
Cameron Green was their most costly acquisition ever. And is regarded as one of the world’s most promising young players at the age of just 23.
If MI does move on from Rohit in the future. They might not even need to look for a captain at the auctions. Because they already have Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav in their ranks.
