Rohit Sharma Under Stress? “Captaincy Mode” Responsible: Great On Star’s Poor Form Ahead Of T20 WC

For Rohit Sharma, the last few days have not been easy. His series of poor scores continued even on Monday, though Mumbai Indians won against SunRisers Hyderabad in an IPL 2024 match. The Indian cricket team captain has not been able to fire in the tournament recently and that has added to MI’s inconsistent show so far. Rohit’s form in the last five matches has been abject, to say the least.  Though he scored a ton vs CSK in a losing cause, Rohit’s form has been on a downward trajectory since then. His scores in the last five games, including the SRH match, read 4, 11, 4, 8 6. That’s 33 runs in five matches.

South Africa great Shaun Pollock commented on his loss of form.

“He’ll be disappointed with that. He got off to a fiery start. Some people were saying, ‘Look he’s no longer captain so he’s getting back to his old form’. He’s still got two more games so hopefully he fires before he heads off to the World Cup,” Pollock said on Cricbuzz on Monday.

“It’s the manner in which he’s getting out that will be more concerning for him. He’s one of those when he’s playing straight down the ground, there’s not much that can go wrong, but he has tried to introduce a bit of a fiddly element to the game. To get the odd scoop here but he’s popping the odd one up in the air. If he gets a good nut, he won’t be too concerned, but to be honest, he’s kind of got out to soft dismissals, to be honest.”

He added that the T20 World Cup selection process may have played a part.

“I presume for the last few weeks, there has been a few conversations about trying to pick the Indian team. With that stress of finding the right balance, which player should be picked, all of a sudden, you are back in captaincy mode…. The naming of the side, going to the press conference, explaining why you have picked a certain may have added to the stress,” Pollock added.