“You’re probably losing your place” - Former captain’s scathing attack on Rohit Sharma after MI vs KKR IPL 2025 match

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has strongly questioned Rohit Sharma's place in Mumbai Indians' eleven after another low score on Monday's game against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Vaughan reflected that the veteran will struggle to retain his place if his name wasn't Rohit Sharma, given his recent numbers.

The 37-year-old's poor form in IPL 2025 continued on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium, registering only 13 runs before Andre Russell dismissed him. He perished for a duck against the Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans' Mohammed Siraj cleaned up the right-hander for 8 in Ahmedabad during their next match.

Speaking on Cricbuzz, Vaughan underlined that the opener will be judged only as a batter currently, given he is not the captain. Hence, the 50-year-old stressed that the recent numbers hardly inspire any confidence in him.

"Remember, you are judging Rohit just as a batter now because he's not the captain (of Mumbai Indians). No, I think you can't get away with average numbers and they are average numbers. If your name is not Rohit Sharma, you're probably losing your place in the side at some stage with those numbers. They're not good enough for a player like Rohit Sharma. But if if he's the captain as well and he's adding his knowledge of being leader, the culture creator that he is, the tactician that he is, and I see it on a regular basis with India, and I've seen it with Mumbai in the past."

Although the former Mumbai Indians skipper had accumulated 400 runs last year, it was the first edition since 2019 that he did so.

"It becomes a problem when you're star-man" - Michael Vaughan on Rohit Sharma

Michael Vaughan. (Image Credits: Getty)

While Vaughan believes the management will not drop the veteran, the Englishman warned that he is running out of time and must step up.

"I cannot cope with those numbers. When you're just the batter now, that's how we have to judge him, because he isn't the captain. He needs runs. I am not saying that they'll get rid of him, and then they're gonna drop him. But it becomes a problem when you're star-man, your most senior batter at the top of the order, you kind of looking at in the dressing room and go - 'Come on, get us off to a start, get your flow back and get your rhythm back, get your mojo back."

Ashwani Kumar's devastating spell set up the eight-wicket win for the five-time champions over KKR on Monday. He took the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey and Andre Russell to finish with figures of 3-0-24-4.