With Mumbai Indians (MI) struggling to keep their playoff hopes alive in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has shared his honest assessment of Rohit Sharma’s performance as the leader of the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise. Averaging 18.40 in the first 10 games of the IPL 2023, there is no denying that veteran Indian opener Rohit has failed to fire for the Men In Blue in the 16th edition of the cash-rich league.

Rohit Sharma has only notched up a single half-century in the 2023 season of the IPL. MI was outplayed by four-time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in match No. 49 of the IPL 2023 on Saturday. Extending his lean patch in the IPL 2023, India’s all-format captain Rohit scored a three-ball duck against MS Dhoni’s Yellow Brigade at the Chepauk.

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Reflecting on his performances in the IPL, during a chat on ESPNCircinfo, Ravi Shastri observed, “As a captain, more important is that your performances come into play. If you start getting on a purple patch where you are scoring runs, the job as a captain becomes much easier. The body language on the field changes, that energy on the field is different. It’s totally different. As opposed to when you not getting runs, you can go flat – no matter who you are.”

The senior batter has amassed only 184 runs in the IPL 2023. Under the leadership of the Hitman, MI is occupying sixth place on the IPL 2023 points table. Rohit’s Mumbai Indians side has suffered five defeats in their first 10 games of the IPL 2023. Mumbai Indians will next meet Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 54th match of the IPL 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.

Elaborating it further, Ravi Shastri said, “Plus, the resources you had 2-3 years ago, aren’t quite the same, then comes the challenge, how do you get going? How do you motivate that bunch? How do you create a combination? How do you see who is the best in that lot to fit in and deliver at a certain stage of the game? So the challenges as a captain might have doubled for him. The work as a captain would have doubled as opposed to two years ago.”

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He further added, “Where everything was nice, go out there and do the job. Having said that, you still have to captain a side. Which you did brilliantly. It’s harder. The stage of his career, and the kind of team that they have. The same team could be a terrific team. In a year’s time or 2 years’ time. Once they start getting together, but to get that right mix, that’s the job of the captain.”