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Home > Sports News > Cricket News > Article > IPL 2017 Why is Rohit Sharma not promoting himself to open the innings

IPL 2017: Why is Rohit Sharma not promoting himself to open the innings?

Updated on: 16 April,2017 11:19 AM IST  | 
Subodh Mayure | subodh.mayure@mid-day.com

Though Mumbai Indians (MI) started the 10th edition on a losing note against Rising Pune Supergiant, the two-time champions bounced back strongly with three consecutive wins

IPL 2017: Why is Rohit Sharma not promoting himself to open the innings?

Rohit Sharma

MI skipper Rohit Sharma arrives in Mumbai from Bangalore on Saturday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe
MI skipper Rohit Sharma arrives in Mumbai from Bangalore on Saturday. Pics/Sneha Kharabe


Though Mumbai Indians (MI) started the 10th edition on a losing note against Rising Pune Supergiant, the two-time champions bounced back strongly with three consecutive wins. All their batsmen are in good form — even Kieron Pollard, who failed in the initial matches, played a match-winning 70 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the away game on Friday. In this scenario, the only headache for Mumbai Indians' chief coach Mahela Jayawardene is not getting enough from his skipper Rohit Sharma.

Poor in four
Rohit is currently batting at No. 3 or 4, behind openers Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler. Their contribution in the last four games have been 45, 65, 28 and 7. Rohit meanwhile, has got scores of three, two, four and zero in his last four innings. Interestingly, neither Parthiv nor Buttler are regular openers for their national teams whereas Rohit is India's opener in ODIs and T20Is. Why is the skipper not promoting himself to open the innings, is a fair question.


The last time Rohit played for India, before his thigh injury in October for which he underwent surgery, he opened the innings and scored 70 off 65 balls against New Zealand at Visakhapatnam where India won by 190 runs. Out of 55 T20Is he has figured in, he has opened 32 times for a tally of 964 runs at 33.24 including a hundred and seven fifties.


If Rohit regains form and he is selected for the forthcoming Champions Trophy, is there a possibility that he would play at No.3 or 4? Not quite. He is most likely to play as an opener only.

Good opportunity
Then, won't it do him and his team a world of good if he promotes himself to open the innings and push Buttler to No. 3? The match against Gujarat Lions at the Wankhede today can be an ideal platform for this new beginning given that it is Rohit's home ground and he is quite familiar with the conditions here.

Captains' Wishlist

Rohit Sharma: Mumbai Indians
He gets some runs under his belt
Pollard continues his fine form with the bat
Bumrah gets his yorkers at the death right

Suresh Raina: Gujarat Lions
He can stick to the winning combination
Jadeja clicks with both bat and ball
The Pandya brothers have an off day

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