CHENNAI: As Rohit Sharma took the long walk back after a failed attempt to slog Kolkata Knight Riders' Andre Russell over mid-off, he looked at the bottom edge of his bat, shaking his head in disappointment. For long as the camera was on him, the former Mumbai Indians captain did not look up.
It was almost as if he didn't want to. Such has been the kind of the start he has had in the 18th iteration of the Indian Premier League (IPL) — 21 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 105. While it may be too soon to question his place as a pure batter, when it comes to Rohit, it is about more than just this year. He has had one of the poorest runs for an established player in this league. And this is not an exaggeration.
Among IPL openers since 2020, Rohit stands ninth in the run tally with 1730 runs at an average of 25.82 and a strike rate of 132.36. In the top-14 of this list, Rohit is the only batter to average less than 30 while also striking at less than 135. In fact, someone like Virat Kohli, who has often come under the lens for his conservative batting approach, has a better strike rate than Rohit (136.1) in this period.
While this might not necessarily be a question on Rohit's intent up front, it paints a picture on his overall record which has been sub-par for the better part of the last decade. 2024 was an exception where he scored 417 runs (he had one century) at a little over 150 SR in the lead up to the T20 World Cup. Rohit has touched 400-run tally once since 2019. The last time he had a 500-plus run season was in 2013.
Now, one could argue that the T20 game has come a long way and runs tally might not paint a full picture. However, Rohit hasn't been the intent merchant he has become in the 50-over format when it comes to the IPL. In fact, his powerplay batting strike rate (131.47) is worse than that of Kohli (136.48) since 2020. Which begs the question, what does Rohit bring to the table? Sure, he has a great captaincy record in the league having led Mumbai to five but he's not the captain anymore. He has retired from the format in international cricket, has changed his game completely in the ODIs while continuing to struggle abroad in the longest format.
This is in contrast to the first half of his IPL career. For the better part of his first decade as an international cricketer, Rohit was often trolled and criticised for thriving in the IPL while being below-par when it comes to Indian colours. Over the past decade, the tables have turned the other way around. In this time, especially in the last couple of years, he has also won two ICC titles for India, and led them to the ODI World Cup final. Add the five IPL and the Champions League titles, Rohit has won everything but the ODI WC when it comes to white-ball cricket as a captain.
But in the IPL, Rohit has barely been at his best as a batter over the past 7-8 years. Former cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar tried to explain why Rohit might be struggling. "Rohit Sharma is clearly going through a phase. He's not the Rohit Sharma of, say, three to four years ago. He's at a stage in his career where he has to push himself every morning 'train hard and be at his best ' because things are slipping away for him. He's still relying on his natural talent and instincts," Manjrekar said on JioStar.
That said, by and large, he has not come under the lens as much as others because of his captaincy and the trophies he won for MI. Which is not the case anymore. As a batter, Rohit has to perform to deem a place in the XI and there is merit to the question of whether he deserves a spot. But oftentimes, franchises understand their player's limitations more than they are credited for. Even more so when it comes to MI. They gave Rohit three years without a title before moving on to Hardik Pandya, which also led to murmurs about the former leaving MI.
However, when Rohit was retained along with Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav ahead of the mega auction, it seemed pretty clear how specific and limited his role was going to be. Perhaps not to the extent of MS Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings but as much as or if not more than that of Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He started as an Impact Player this season and is expected to do so more often than not through this season.
For those of us watching from outside, MI and Rohit also know his days as a prime IPL batter is long gone and now, it is all about making the best use of his abilities. Can they? Will he? The next few weeks will tell.
