When the two new franchises were announced for the 2022 Indian Premier League, it made for a fascinating wait as to which marquee Indian cricketer they would go for. There was a handful available, thanks to the reset and retentions. Among them, KL Rahul was the most prominent name and it was an open secret why he wanted to leave Punjab Kings. There was no surprise when Lucknow Super Giants made him the highest paid cricketer in the league.
Rahul is an indomitable force in the IPL. Having successfully transitioned from a red-ball batsman to an all-weather white-ball specialist, he has set the stage alight ever since leaving Royal Challengers Bangalore. The last time he turned out for RCB, back in 2016, Rahul scored 397 runs. Since return from injury in 2018, and his subsequent move to Punjab Kings, Rahul has averaged 637 runs in every IPL season.
Rohit Sharma captain of Mumbai Indians hits the boundary for four during match 37 of the TATA Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL season 15) between the Lucknow Super Giants and the Mumbai Indians. Sportzpics
The least amount of runs he scored at Punjab in the four years was 593. Even the move to Lucknow hasn’t affected him much, and at the time of writing, he has 368 runs from eight games, on course for another 600-run season. To call him consistent would be a sad choice of words. This is a freakish run of form, and Rahul can be deemed as the best Indian batsman in the Indian Premier League at present.
Sunday night was just another exhibition in that light, as Rahul showed his full array of strokes to the Wankhede faithful. Booming drives and backfoot pulls, he was on song even as Lucknow posted a par score on a tough wicket. He stood out because at this point in time, he is just that good, a class apart from majority of the other batsmen. One methodical shot stood out in particular for Rahul, as time and again he used his wrists to use the bottom-hand to generate power on a two-paced track. When you are the best batsman on display, such adjustment becomes second nature.
103 not out, and 103 not out again, six days apart. Mumbai Indians’ bowling has been cow-fodder for him this season. The five-time champions are a beleaguered unit this IPL season, with a hundred pressing concerns, mounting with every game. And Rahul has made them miserable twice in a row. The good part is they won’t have to face him again this season – eight losses in a row means Mumbai are mathematically out of the running for a top-four spot. Is there a bad part? Well, eight losses. Eight!
From top to bottom, Mumbai Indians are beset with problems. They overspent on Ishan Kishan, but that price tag seems to be affecting him now. There is also the added responsibility because the top-order isn’t scoring enough runs. Their investment in Tilak Varma and Dewald Brevis may bear fruit in time, but at present, it isn’t doing anything at all. Suryakumar Yadav cannot do it all alone. Kieron Pollard isn’t doing much, and like most seasons he is just present. Jasprit Bumrah has been rendered ineffective because he doesn’t have any support and teams can simply play him out without losing any wickets.
Even when the bowling unit pulled through to restrict Lucknow to a sub-170 score, their batting just didn’t come together on Sunday night. Eight consecutive losses may be excruciating for the five-time champions. That’s the peril of resets and rebuilds, and this feels like it could worse for them before it gets any better. It might as well be 14 out of 14 losses – why not set an unbreakable record at the bottom-end of the points’ table as well?
Point is, after such an ignominious losing run, it doesn’t really matter what comes of Mumbai Indians this season. That is a topic for their management and ownership, if at all. Their fans are probably not going to tune in for the rest of the season, and we won’t see a sea of blue-gold at the Wankhede again. It simply doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things.
One thing does matter, and that is Rohit Sharma’s form. Along with Kishan, SKY and Bumrah, he forms the core of cricketers from this franchise that aspire to play the T20 World Cup in Australia later in the year. While they won’t be leaving the Mumbai camp just yet, their form, fitness and mental health are a pressing concern.
Amongst it all, watching Rohit struggle to get going is most worrisome.
From an Indian cricket perspective, the first concern about Rohit at present is his leadership. He was anointed white-ball captain less than six months ago, because he had won five IPL trophies. After 14 years of failure at T20 World Cups, the most recent being in the UAE in 2021, he was seen as the big hope for the Australian edition this year. What happens to that thought now? You cannot take away credit from him for those five trophies won, but you also cannot miss out on criticism for failure to break this poor run?
Do you really want someone leading at the World Cup whose franchise team suffered eight consecutive losses (potentially more) five months ago? A captain is as good as his team, Gautam Gambhir will tell you repeatedly, and at this point, Mumbai are not that good a unit. In such a situation, a player like Rohit will fall back to what he knows best. Score runs, and plenty of them. This is the other, arguably the bigger concern. They simply aren’t coming through.
It is tough to say whether he is in bad form or just under pressure from these defeats. In the first game of this season, he scored 41 at 129 SR and Mumbai’s loss to Delhi Capitals seemed a blip. Since then, he has crossed 25 only thrice in seven innings. At times, he seems as if trying to force the runs, perhaps trying too hard to play that immaculate knock which could help break out his team’s troublesome run. But on Sunday night, Rohit appeared a sad shadow of his free-flowing self, with just no timing on his shots.
Let it be said here, that Rohit isn’t the most prolific scorer in IPL for Mumbai Indians. The last time he crossed 500 runs in the IPL was 2013. The last time he scored 450 runs in an IPL season was 2016. The last time he scored 400-plus in a season was 2019.
He isn’t the same batting force in franchise cricket, as he is for team India, and it is more about his leadership skills when it comes to the IPL. But when you have suffered eight straight losses, and are struggling to find a solution to cross the finish line even once, those some leadership skills may not matter any longer.
The situation seems so troublesome currently that Indian cricket probably doesn’t know if it should worry more about captain Rohit or batsman Rohit. Even more worrisome is that there is no end in sight with another six games to go. Unlike Virat Kohli, a break isn’t even an option for him.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, IPL Live Score, IPL 2022 schedule,IPL 2022 Points table andEntertainment News. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.