"Rohit Sharma must forget captaincy when he bats, needs to remember he is 'Hitman'!" - Virender Sehwag ahead of MI vs PBKS in IPL 2022
Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag believes the Mumbai Indians (MI) will need their skipper Rohit Sharma to fire all cylinders with the bat in their crucial encounter against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Wednesday.
MI have lost four games on the trot so far this season and their weak bowling attack has been exposed. Sehwag feels the five-time IPL champions are overdependent on Jasprit Bumrah to provide them with wickets.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag explained why MI need to score some extra runs on the board like the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) did in their game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He said:
"As Chennai did, Mumbai will also need to put those extra runs on the board for their bowlers if they lose the toss. They will need to score those runs as they keep on posting just 160-170 which is not enough with the bowling that they have. Even Bumrah cannot do everything alone."
Virender Sehwag is also concerned about MI skipper Rohit Sharma's form so far. The 34-year-old has scored just 80 runs in four games. Sehwag opined that Rohit should not let the responsibility of the captaincy affect his batting. He added:
"Rohit Sharma will need to forget that he is a captain when he walks out to bat and needs to know that he is the 'Hitman.'"
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MI need atleast three batters to stay till the death: RP Singh
Former Indian pacer RP Singh stated that the Mumbai Indians will need to save their firepower for the death overs and avoid losing a cluster of wickets upfront. In their previous game, Suryakumar Yadav had to rescue Mumbai from a precarious situation and RP Singh reckons other batters should take on more responsibility.
He stated:
"Suryakumar Yadav is batting really well and is dominating the match as long as he is there at the crease. But I think they will need at least three batters to stay till the death. It should not happen that they have just one batter who is batting with the tailenders. It creates confusion about whether he should hit or take a single."
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RP Singh was quite vocal about Kieron Pollard's inconsistency with the bat. He feels that experienced players like Pollard and Rohit should get their eye in and make their start count. He added:
"They should keep wickets in hand as we saw with Chennai how they accelerated after ten overs. Rohit needs to play cautiously at the start. Pollard's bat has been quiet for a while. If he fires, it will be good for the team as those extra 12-20 runs can be valuable."
With CSK winning their first game of the season on Tuesday, Mumbai are in unfamiliar territory at the bottom of the IPL 2022 points table. It will be interesting to see what changes they make to their XI so that they can bounce back against Punjab Kings.