"He might just need a couple of good shots to bounce back to really good form" - Jason Behrendorff on Rohit Sharma's lean patch 

Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer Jason Behrendorff believes that Rohit Sharma is only a couple of good shots away from finding his form. The Mi skipper is currently in the midst of a horrid run of form, having scored only 12 runs across his last five innings.

Rohit was dismissed for seven runs in MI's dominant win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, May 9. He was trapped lbw by Wanind Hasaranga in a controversial manner as he appeared to step well down the track. But the DRS showed three reds, leaving the ace batter confused.

Expressing his optimism over Rohit returning to form at the business end of the tournament, Behrendorff said during the post-match press conference:

"I love the intent Rohit came out with, he sort of stepped down the wicket and took the bowlers on, which was really good to see. He is hitting the ball really well in the nets, but it has not translated often at the moment out in the middle. But, we know how good Rohit is, he is an absolute class player and he might just need a couple of good shots to bounce back to really good form."

MI reached the 200-run target with relative ease, marking only the second instance of a score of 200 or above being chased down at the iconic venue in the IPL.

Speaking of MI's batting prowess even without Tilak Varma among their ranks, Behrendorff said:

"We have got a really long batting lineup, and a couple of guys miss out but when you have got SKY, who is on a different level has been batting amazingly."

Behrendorff continued:

"Tim David at the back end, we can see what he can do and Nehal, who has come in across the last few games particularly and take the game on and played some really important knocks for us, So, we have got great options."

Barring Rohit, the entire MI batting unit seems to be in good form. Suryakumar Yadav has scored runs with utter ease at the Wankhede, which includes his highest IPL score (83) in the win over RCB.

The likes of Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Nehal Wadhera, and Tim David have also chipped in according to the situation.

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"Having fresh batters coming at the back end of the innings was really important for us" - Jason Behrendorff

RCB were cruising at one stage after Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell rebuilt the innings after an initial setback in the powerplay. The visitors were 136-2 in 12.2 overs at one stage, but MI clawed back into the contest with wickets at regular intervals.

The out-of-sorts RCB middle order could not make much of an impression and a cameo by Dinesh Karthik took them to 199-6 in the end.

Stating that the key was to break the partnership between Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell to introduce new batters in the death overs, Behrendorff said:

"I think their partnership at one stage was about 100 runs in 50 balls or something, so we really needed to break that partnership."

Behrendorff continued:

"We had a few different plans, few things nearly worked and we were able to crack through it at the back end, which gave us the opportunity to dry them up towards the end of the innings, which has been a tough period for all bowlers. Having fresh batters coming at the back end of the innings was really important for us."

MI will next host league leaders Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday, May 12.