On Rohit's Poor Form, Shastri's Honest "No Matter Who You Are" Message

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma's workload "have doubled" in the past years and said that not being in form with the bat has affected Rohit's captaincy as well. Rohit is the most thriving captain in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), having led MI to five title victories- the highest in the IPL - in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. They did, however, have one of their worst seasons last year, finishing last on the standings with only four victories in 14 games. Prior to pulling together a couple of victories, they also dropped their first two games this season. They are now ranked sixth in the standings.

Shastri agreed that not being in form with the bat has affected Rohit's captaincy as well.

"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 as opposed to when you are not getting runs. You can go flat no matter who you are," Shastri told ESPNcricinfo.

IPL 2023 season is not going well for MI captain Rohit as in ten matches, he has scored 184 runs at 18.39 and a strike rate of 126.89. This includes two ducks.

"That's where, as a captain, it is more important that your performances come into play. It is harder now because of 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 two years' time, once they start gelling together. But to get that right mix, that's the job of the captain," he added.

"The resources you had two or three years ago aren't quite the same. The challenges as a captain might have doubled for him. The work as a captain would have doubled as opposed to two years ago when everything was nice, set - go out there and do the job," Shastri said.

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