3 similarities in Virat Kohli's IPL 2022 and Rohit Sharma's IPL 2023 forms
Rohit Sharma has struggled to score runs consistently for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023. The MI captain has been dismissed in single digits in his last five IPL knocks.
Despite playing on some batting-friendly surfaces, Sharma has managed scores of 2, 3, 0, 0 and 7 in his previous five innings. Looking at his overall numbers in IPL 2023, Rohit has aggregated 191 runs in 11 innings thus far. His highest score is 65, while his strike rate is just below 125.
Rohit Sharma is one of the greatest players to have played in the IPL. He is among the leading run-scorers in the tournament's history, but the Mumbai Indians captain has had a tough time this season so far.
Some fans have drawn out comparisons between Rohit Sharma's IPL 2023 performance and Royal Challengers Bangalore star Virat Kohli's IPL 2022 form. Kohli has done a great job for RCB in 2023, but last year, he struggled to score runs consistently for his franchise.
In this listicle now, we will look at the three similarities between Virat Kohli's IPL 2022 and Rohit Sharma's IPL 2023 forms.
#1 Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma recorded consecutive ducks
It is rare to see batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma registering back-to-back scores of zero in IPL matches. Both batters have destroyed some of the best bowling lineups in the tournament's history, but Virat recorded consecutive ducks in 2022, and Rohit has done it in 2023.
Rohit Sharma has now scored the most DUCKs in IPL’s history 🤯
📸: IPL/JioCinema
#IPL2023 #CSKvsMI #crickettwitter https://t.co/T858Gu41Gv
Virat lost his wicket for a golden duck in the league stage matches against the Lucknow Super Giants and the Sunrisers Hyderabad during the previous season. Meanwhile, Rohit could not open his account in the IPL 2023 matches against the Punjab Kings and the Chennai Super Kings played earlier this month.
#2 MS Dhoni's masterplan worked against Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
MS Dhoni is one of the smartest captains in cricket history. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents very well. Back in IPL 2022, when RCB played against CSK, Dhoni moved a fielder to deep square leg. On the next ball, Kohli got caught out in the same area.
IPL 2022: MS Dhoni sets a deep square leg for Virat Kohli; batter gets caught in the same ... ift.tt/3RLZDqI
Similarly in IPL 2023, when MI played against CSK at Chepauk, Dhoni set the field in such a way that Rohit would attempt a lap shot. The Mumbai Indians skipper tried the same, but could not time it to perfection and ended up handing a simple catch to Ravindra Jadeja.
#3 Got out after starting well in multiple innings
Virat Kohli got off to some good starts during the previous season. In the match against KKR, he scored 12 runs off seven balls, a 14-ball 20 against Punjab Kings and a 25 against Lucknow Super Giants. However, he lost his wicket just when it looked like he had settled in the middle.
In the same way, Rohit has registered scores of 21, 20 and 28 in three of his knocks this season. His strike rate has been more than 150 in each of those innings, but he lost his wicket before touching the 30-run mark.