EXCLUSIVE
Follow UsHaving lost all seven matches so far, Mumbai Indians’ (MI) chance of making it to the playoffs is more or less over. They came close to winning a match on a couple of occasions, including their previous match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), where an MS Dhoni special stole the game away from them in the end.
It has been a tough season, especially for Rohit Sharma and the fact that he is out of form with the bat too doesn’t help him or his team’s cause. he and his side will look to finally break their duck with they take on the KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday (April 24).
Former India batter WV Raman reckons that this season will make Rohit stronger and has backed him to win more titles - with MI and India - in the future.
“It doesn't matter how long you've been playing or how experienced you are. You are always going to be learning in sport and in life as well. This is a place where Rohit Sharma will come out stronger maybe it will help him in the years to come from Mumbai Indians as well as for the Indian side,” Raman said on Cricket.com.
“He has got to go through this phase. It is always a difficult phase when a batter who is expected to deliver for his side doesn't deliver personally and the team also is not in the best of nicks which means that he's got to somehow keep his team going, himself going.
“It’s a huge challenge, easier said than done but that'll make him stronger. Who knows this particular thing will teach you so many things that will hold him in good stead to win a lot of titles in the future for his franchise and also perform incredibly well for India too.”
With neutral venues being used in this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), MI finally return to the Wankhede Stadium, which was their home venue for so many years. Raman reckons that the familiarity factor could play a factor for MI.
“Cricketers generally go by visual clues so which means when the Mumbai Indians' side gets to the Wankhede what happens is that it will give them a sense of comfort and also the familiarity thing,” Raman said.
“But all in all in all what is happening is that the Mumbai Indians have not been and the best times and they’ve struggled to perform as units together. Either it's been a case of a couple of individuals exhibiting a lot of brilliance or in a total washout.
“Again that has been a very popular franchise. They always somehow scrape through and found solutions but now it looks like an almost impossible task for them.
Ishan Kishan started the tournament off well with a couple of fifties, but has struggled for runs since. Rohit too has averaged under 20 so far. Should MI consider rejigging the opening combo? Raman does not think so but adds that Dewald Brevis will at the closing stages of the innings.
“Ishan started off well but started thinking too much and his form has slumped a little bit. I detected a lot of hesitancy in the top order in the game against CSK. That happens when the team is under a lot of pressure, the individuals aren’t in the best of forms, they are not very fluent, their footwork is not that good,” Raman, the former India Women head coach, said.
“For example, Rohit Sharma was nothing short. If his mind is not preoccupied with so many things I am sure he would have whipped it over the ropes for a comfortable six. That's what form is all about. Ishan Kishan - he lost his balance, he played down the wrong line.
“These things happen in a tournament when things are not really going your way. But that should not be the reason for them to tweak the order. It’s just that they can look at the SKY [Suryakumar Yadav] coming in at three because what is done tremendously well in the last few years that’s got to do with this phenomenal ability.
“He has learnt to pace his innings, be the catalyst of the team - whichever team he plays for. He can be the ideal number 3 for them. That can change a lot of things for them and if you look will look at Brevis. He looks like a player who can be extraordinarily useful to us at the back end of the innings.
“He is a young boy and can get carried away and can also get overawed by the pressure. If he is there till the end of the innings and if he gets going along with Pollard after SKY sets up a good base. I think Mumbai Indians will put up a lot of runs on the board.”
With an economy rate of 9,3, MI have been the most expensive bowling unit this season. Raman reckons that their persistence with one particular spinner has no worked for them and has backed Mayank Markande to play for them soon - either to play with Ashwin or in place of him.
“The issue has been that they’ve stuck to one particular spinner which is Murugan Ashwin,” Raman pointed out.
“They brought in the young man Hrithik Shokeen [vs CSK], who I thought did really well and I am also surprised by the reluctance to not play the other leg-spinner [Mayank] Markande because he's played in IPL before he's done well and with all these pitches.
“Being really good for batting, the ball is coming on to the bat on all these surfaces, it is important that your fast bowler can vary their pace with good control or you need to have spinners who can do the job for you.
“What Shokeen’s performance has proved is that if you are temperamentally good and if you can hold your own it doesn't matter if you are a spinner.
“You can really do the job for the side despite the fact that generally off-spinners are considered the kind of bowlers who can be vulnerable, he has done extraordinarily well.
“With the trend of leg-spinners doing really well for a long period of time in IPL am really surprised that they have chosen not to play Markande. They could have even looked at playing two leggies but they know more about this and better than what we can even imagine about the side.”
Shifting focus to LSG, the lack of time given to Manish Pandey at No. 3 has frustrated Raman, who feels he should be given a longer rope in that position.
“They could have done a little bit more better. That is what we are always aspiring for. Also for the fact that they have somehow not found an ideal number three. They’ve played enough games and that is something that they've been really searching for but I think they got into a tangle by not perhaps being a little bit patient,” Raman, a veteran of 11 Tests and 27 ODIs for India said.
“They were expecting somebody to deliver quickly enough and zoom in on that particular individual like Manish Pandey for example. Manish is what is one cricketer who needs reassurance on a regular basis.
“I've seen him from Under-19 days. He is talented now is experienced. He is a bit longer in the tooth than was some years ago when I first saw it but the fact of the matter is not that I am suggesting is old, it’s just that he is far more experienced than I saw him for the first time, that was 10-12 years ago.
“But the fact of the matter is despite that he needs reassurance, he needs to be told repeatedly that he is good enough.”
Speaking of Marcus Stoinis, Raman reckons his role with LSG will be similar to what Kieron Pollard has been doing for MI all these years. “I think they are looking at Stoinis to play a few deliveries and got bang bang. I think that’s the role they've allocated to him,” the former India batter said.
“They've got the Hoodas and the others to work it out. Ayush Badoni has come good for them which means they are looking at Stoinis to provide the fireworks at the end of the innings - something like what Kieron Pollard has done for Mumbai Indians all these years.
“They would prefer them to bat 6-10 deliveries and get a quickfire 30-odd. So I think that’s the kind of role they have set out for Stoinis and I think he is also happy performing that.”
