Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels Rohit Sharma doesn’t get enough credit for leading the Mumbai Indians in the 2023 Indian Premier League. He expressed that the right-handed batter is an underrated skipper, and should get credit for his on-field decisions, just like Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Rohit Sharma has led the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League since the 2013 season. He has won five championships for the team in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Under his leadership, the franchise has reached the playoffs of the ongoing season. They defeated the Lucknow Super Giants in Eliminator to advance to Qualifier 2 in the 2023 Indian Premier League.
Former Sunil Gavaskar hailed the Mumbai Indians skipper and highlighted his brilliant on-field decision that got Akash Madhwal, Ayush Badoni’s wicket in the Eliminator. Speaking to India Today, he said,
“Of course, he is underrated. The man has won 5 titles for Mumbai Indians. Let me give you an example. Maddhwal got Ayush Badoni, bowling over the wicket. He then went round the wicket to the left-hander Nicholas Pooran.”
“Not a lot of bowlers necessarily do that because if they get their rhythm going bowling over the wicket, they will stick to over the wicket even it’s a left-hander, trying to leave te left-hander. But he went around the wicket and produced an absolute gem of a delivery and got the man out,” he added.
Sunil Gavaskar further expressed, “If that had been CSK and Dhoni was the captain. Everybody would have said ‘Dhoni plotted Nicholas Pooran’s dismissal. This is what happens to a great extent. There is also a little bit of hype, things sometimes work out. What I am saying is Rohit Sharma did not get the credit for telling Madhwal to bowl round the wicket.”
Please give Rohit Sharma credit for bringing Nehal Wadhera as an impact player: Sunil Gavaskar
Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also expressed that Rohit Sharma should get credit for bringing in Nehal Wadhera as an impact player against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator. Batting first, the Mumbai Indians put on 182 runs on the board. At one point, it seemed that they would struggle to get past the 180-run mark, but Nehal Wadhera played a fine knock of 28 runs to end the innings.
“The captaincy situation as well. Remember, Nehal Wadhera was used as an impact player batting first. Teams generally don’t use batters as Impact Players when they are batting first. But Rohit used Nehwal when MI was batting first against LSG. So please give him credit for that as well,” said Sunil Gavaskar.
The Mumbai Indians won the match by 81 runs, as Akash Madhwal picked up a fifer. He won the Player of the Match award for the bowling figures of 5/5. The five-time Indian Premier League champions will take Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 on Friday, May 26 in Ahmedabad.
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