The Mumbai Indians thrashed the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. Chasing a target of 200, they chased it with 21 balls left. A 100+ run partnership from Nehala and Suryakumar Yadav powered MI to a very easy victory.
Rohit Sharma, the captain of Mumbai Indians, has been struggling to score runs in the last three matches of the ongoing IPL 2023, which is causing concern not just for his franchise but also for the Indian team. With the World Test Championship finale against Australia approaching in less than a month, Sharma’s lack of form is worrying.
Simon Doull said
Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull believes that the team management should continue to support Sharma, just as Chennai Super Kings did with Shane Watson in 2018. However, Doull is unsure about Sharma’s future once Tilak Varma recovers from injury, as it will be difficult for Mumbai Indians to drop Nehal Wadhera, who has scored two consecutive half-centuries in the tournament.
“When a team keeps winning without a player scoring runs, they can still continue to trust that player. This is what CSK did with Watson (in 2018). They carried him through the tournament and he repaid the faith in the final. Loved the way Ishan went about hitting in the powerplay. But it’s just not working for Rohit. Now what happens if Tilak Varma is fit? You can’t drop Nehal Wadhera now,” Doull said while talking to Cricbuzz.
Suryakumar Yadav, a flamboyant batsman, caused mayhem by blasting 83 runs off just 35 deliveries to help Mumbai defeat Bangalore by six wickets and climb to third place in the IPL points standings. The cricketer, who was born in Mumbai, has amassed 376 runs overall in 11 games and has been a force to be reckoned with over the last four or five games. The same was acknowledged by Doull, who praised him for his outstanding performance against the RCB.
“It has been a season of two halves for him (SKY). The last four-five games that he has had have been just unbelievable. All the sixes were great, but the way he waited on a slower delivery outside off stump and timed it through point shows that he has the game to wait, assess and still play the shot,” Doull mentioned.
Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
