IPL 2022 | Really don’t know what’s going on with him: Manjrekar voices concern at Rohit

Sanjay Manjrekar, a former Indian cricketer, has voiced his concern at Rohit Sharma’s poor form and Mumbai Indians’ slumping performance. As a result, Mumbai Indians lost their sixth consecutive match. However, the skipper took full responsibility and stated that he was having trouble executing the plans he had for his team.

“If I know what’s going wrong, I’d correct it but it’s not coming off. I’m trying to prepare myself in the way I prepare every game; that is no different. It’s not coming off.” 

“I take full responsibility of not putting the team in the situation of what they expect from me. I back myself to go out there and enjoy the game and doing what I have been doing all these years,” said the Mumbai Indians captain.

After the following unfortunate events for the team and Rohit’s dip in performance, Manjrekar stated that he is perplexed by the current situation.

“(I) 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 former cricketer also highlighted that Rohit hasn’t been delivering as exceptional a performance as he expected to in the last few seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“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,” cited the former cricketer. 

Manjrekar also opined that Mumbai Indians may fall into the same category as Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore and may even finish last.

“Delhi and Bengaluru are the only other teams to lose their first six matches in an IPL season. Those two teams finished last in those seasons when they started badly. It seems like MI are probably going to finish last as well.”

Misguided decisions in the auction could have led to poor decisions, suggested the cricketer turned commentator. 

“When I watched the auction live this time, I was wondering what was going on. Despite the kind of players they picked, I was not expecting them to play so poorly. But I did not give them a chance to make the final four. Their key players were gone, and the squad picked did not look like a potential champion team.”

The 56-year old also proposed that MI should pick a team with more batters for the upcoming matches.

“They don’t have any good options when it comes to bowling. It’s not like there are quality bowlers waiting on the bench. They should not forget about bowling and pack the team with batters. Tim David must get a chance. Dewald Brevis is a ray of hope. They need to get batting heavy and expect to chase 200 in every game.”