Considering the kind of start defending champion Mumbai Indians has had to its IPL campaign — three nail-biting losses in as many outings — it wasn’t surprising to see former captain Sachin Tendulkar, who is a mentor now, quite involved during the team’s training on Monday, the eve of its high-voltage clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Tendulkar, along with head coach Mahela Jayawardene, was involved in intense discussion with captain Rohit Sharma — the team’s hitman — and all-rounder Hardik Pandya. After all, the captain and key all-rounder both haven’t really got going.
That has eventually hurt Mumbai Indians despite the new blokes putting in a few impressive performances.
While Hardik missing a game owing to an ankle injury suffered during the tournament-opener can be attributed for the lack of a match-winning performance, Mumbai Indians will be hoping that Rohit gets into his groove after a relatively timid start to the campaign.
Rohit — the third-highest run-getter in IPL history — has garner a mere 44 runs in his three innings so far this season.
But more than Rohit’s lack of runs, Mumbai Indians appears to be in a quandary over his batting position.
After opening the innings in the first two matches, Rohit dropped to the middle-order at No. 4. It is a position he has batted at frequently, ever since taking over the reins of the team mid-way through IPL 2013.
Considering that Suryakumar Yadav had a fruitful stint with West Indian Evin Lewis at the top versus Delhi Daredevils on Saturday, it will not be surprising to see Rohit stick to the middle-order slot.
That would also mean that the onus will be on Rohit of seeing off RCB leggie Yuzvendra Chahal.
With the team on the verge of dipping into a phase of frustration on the back of three last-over losses, it is imperative that Rohit leads from the front.
Specially so since Mumbai Indians will be up against RCB — where the likes of Virat Kohli and A.B. de Villiers have already found form.
Teams (from):
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma(c), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Mustafizur Rahman, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Evin Lewis, Saurabh Tiwary, Ben Cutting, Pradeep Sangwan, Jean-Paul Duminy, Tajinder Singh, Sharad Lumba, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Mayank Markande, Akila Dhananjaya, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, MD Nidheesh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Manan Vohra, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Tim Southee.
