Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma recorded his second successive duck in the ongoing IPL 2023 in his team's most recent match against the Chennai Super Kings which was played in Chennai on May 6th, 2023.
Sharma has not been in the best of form this season and, in this match, he decided to demote himself to the number three position. However, he could only manage to stay in the middle for three balls, as CSK bowler Deepak Chahar had him caught by Ravindra Jadeja at Point for a three-ball duck.
Reacting to the same former India captain Sunil Gavaskar opined that MI captain should take a rest and focus on keeping himself fit for the upcoming World Test championship final which will be played at the Oval in England from June 7-11 against Australia.
"I would say that Rohit should maybe take a break for the time being, and keep himself fit for the World Test Championship Final. He can come back again for the last few matches, but right now, [he should] take a little bit of a breather himself," Gavaskar told Star Sports.
IPL 2023: “We had an off-day as a batting unit,” says Rohit Sharma after MI’s six-wicket loss to CSK
“It just doesn’t seem as if he is in the game. I may be completely wrong, but the shot he played wasn’t a captain’s shot. A captain repairs the innings knowing that the team is in trouble, plays a decent knock, and gets the team to a good total. Two wickets went for not too many in the power-play and you are not in form," Gavaskar said.
The MI skipper registered his 16th duck in the IPL - the most by any batter in the history of the IPL tournament, surpassing Sunil Narine, Mandeep Singh, and Dinesh Karthik on the unwanted list of players with record ducks in the IPL.
“If you are in form, I still understand the scoop shot, but it’s a huge shot when you have got two ducks in the previous game. So, you want to play and get yourself off the mark, get some circulation in the legs, running quick ones and twos, and then go for the big ones. Maybe, he is preoccupied and maybe a little break would do him good. But it’s for him and the MI team management to take a call,” the ex-India skipper added.
Mumbai is in 6th place on the IPL 2023 points table and will next face RCB on May 9th at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
