Rohit Sharma’s Batting Form: Mirage Or A Real Crisis?

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma bring such immense experience to the table that going in without them, on any stage, is impossible till they are in harness.

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 fast approaching the business end of things, some of the franchises will be now resignedly packing their bags and heading off into the wilderness, possibly re-assessing their performances and reinvigorating themselves for the next year. Among them will be Mumbai Indians (MI), who have left themselves high and dry in the run for the IPL 2022 knockout stages, and look even more remotely placed thanks to the rollicking form of some of the other franchises. As MI seek answers, the cricket fraternity invariably also wants some of their own, specifically related to the form of those who will soon don India colours again.

When you add those two and the first name that comes to mind is that of Rohit Sharma. Plus, his underwhelming performances in IPL 2022, and you have the perfect masala to make some concoction of real and imaginary crises.
There is no doubt that Sharma is in a crisis, both as batsman and captain. This IPL season has been a disaster, to put it mildly, and MI will be wondering what went wrong.

Equally, his own inability to force the issue and get crucial runs on top of the batting order has been a concern and it is inevitable to ask if this lack of form will permeate into India colours, more so with the ICC T20 World Cup not too far off.

In other words, is Rohit Sharma in good enough form to go to bigger platforms?

This question is irrelevant at best. For starters, he is the India captain across all formats and he’s not losing that job any time soon, so yes, he will go everywhere he wants to.

Next, does it matter if he doesn’t score in IPL 2022? To an extent, yes, since form crosses formats. That said, to believe that a batter of his calibre won’t be able to connect the dots and get his act together is a little far-fetched, not to mention premature.

Similar questions are also being asked about Virat Kohli. The answers are pretty much the same for just one reason if not anything else – he and Rohit Sharma bring such immense experience to the table that going in without them, on any stage, is impossible till they are in harness.

Rohit Sharma has 153 runs from eight IPL 2022 matches, with a best of 41 and an average of 19.13. His strike rate is 126.44.

Doesn’t strike as being too comforting, but this is also symptomatic of the way Mumbai Indians are playing. It happens to the best – that the overall mediocrity reflects on them as well.

Team India is and will be a different platform for all concerned. Make no mistake, this year and the tournaments loaded up will be a test of who stays and who finally leaves the big stage. But that is only if and when they fail on the India stage, that too consistently.

For now, best to wait and watch, though we doubt if batters of this class will be out of form for too long.