“Really don’t know what’s happening with Rohit Sharma” - Sanjay Manjrekar perplexed with lack of runs from MI skipper’s bat in IPL 2022

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed surprise at Rohit Sharma’s lack of big scores in IPL 2022. According to him, the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain is looking in good form but is somehow unable to come up with substantial contributions.

Mumbai slipped to their sixth consecutive defeat in IPL 2022 on Saturday, going down to the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 18 runs.

Sharma’s poor run continued as he was dismissed for six. The 34-year-old opening batter nicked pacer Avesh Khan, trying to guide a delivery down to deep third man.

Analyzing Sharma’s woes with the bat, Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo that it was difficult to point out a reason for the same. He commented:

“Really don’t know what’s happening with Rohit Sharma. When he scores even 20, it seems like the machine is fine. But it suddenly stops working and he gets out. He looks in fine form, but he’s just not been able to perform.”

The 56-year-old also pointed out that Sharma hasn’t been as consistent as some of the star performers in the IPL over the years. He added:

“It’s not just about this season. He hasn’t made the kind of impact in the IPL that players like KL Rahul and David Warner have. I don’t know the reason - maybe he is too invested in international cricket. There is no problem with his technique. When you look at Virat Kohli and Ishan Kishan, you can see that they are slightly out of form. Rohit is batting well, but the runs are not coming.”

Shifting the focus to the other Mumbai opener, Manjrekar observed that Ishan Kishan’s strike rate in the IPL falls significantly when he is low on confidence. He elaborated:

“I have observed a pattern with Ishan Kishan’s batting. When he is in rhythm, he scores at a strike rate of 150. When the Indian Premier League was being held in Chennai during the first half last season, his strike rate had dropped to 80 for a few games. When he is struggling, he is completely out of form and his strike rate slips below 100."

Purchased at ₹15.25 crore at the auction, Kishan has scored 191 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 117.18. On the other hand, Sharma has managed 114 runs at a strike rate of 129.55.

---

“Wouldn’t consider this Rahul’s best IPL hundred” - Sanjay Manjrekar

While Rohit Sharma struggled with the bat, his opposite number KL Rahul hammered an unbeaten 103 off 60 balls on Saturday.

Praising the LSG skipper for his wonderful knock, Manjrekar refused to term it his best. Giving reasons for the same, he explained:

“Wouldn’t consider this Rahul’s best IPL hundred. The bowling was quite weak and Rahul himself will admit it. At the start, it seemed like he would again look to anchor the innings. But once he realized that the pitch is good and the bowling is not great, he attacked the bowling.”

Speaking about his fluctuating strike rate, Manjrekar added that it is Rahul who decides what kind of pace he wants to score at. He stated:

“Even when Rahul is scoring slowly, it is his plan because he wants to bat till the end. It has never been a case of him struggling to score quickly.”

Rahul’s unbeaten ton led Lucknow to 199 for four after they were asked to bat first. Chasing the target, Mumbai managed only 181 for nine.