Rohit Sharma will complete 10 years as Mumbai Indians captain with the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. The Mumbai batter, who took over the captaincy in 2013, has won a record five IPL titles with the franchise.
IPL 2023: All you need to know
Former India cricketers, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan and Aakash Chopra, who will be appearing as experts on JioCinema during IPL 2023, got together to dissect Rohit’s impact on MI and expectations from the India captain.
Anil Kumble served as a mentor on the 2013 Mumbai Indians squad in Sharma’s first season as captain of the franchise. He shared his insights on Sharma’s leadership style and confidence.
“He was not afraid to say what he had to say. He had plenty of experience around him and he reached out to them as well but then but took his own decisions. That’s what you want from a captain,” Kumble said on JioCinema’s Insiders Preview show.
IPL 2023: Everything you need to know about Mumbai Indians
Kumble also spoke about him leading a new team in 2017 and said, “2017 was a new team and the kind of captaincy we saw from him in terms of defending low scores, that’s when your true leadership comes out.”
Zaheer Khan emphasized on how a captain’s role is the most important and said, “The captain’s role is of utmost importance, the way he is thinking and taking decisions in crucial stages in a cool manner and the right decisions, and if it doesn’t go your way, how he is handling the situation. It is a long tournament and every game’s performance can have an impact in the next game. Rohit has the ability and personality to absorb pressure very well. The way he communicates in a cool way, not just with players but also in press conferences, I think that is his biggest strength.”
IPL 2023: MI helped me showcase myself in a different avatar, says Rohit
Mumbai Indians have enjoyed tremendous success under Rohit’s leadership. That doesn’t mean he is any less lethal with the bat. Kumble however wants to see Sharma bat at number four, “Especially with the current MI team, you need that experience in the middle order. There are some wonderful batters that MI possesses, but I think someone like Rohit Sharma in the middle, controlling seven to fifteen overs is extremely critical.”
Aakash Chopra also broke down the impact Sharma has while batting and said, “When Rohit is batting, he does it beautifully and he’ll keep doing it. He’s doing it for India, for the Mumbai Indians. When he bats, he’s in a different league altogether,” said Chopra before posing an interesting question for Mumbai’s batting strategy this season.
“As a result of that, people keep debating what’s best for Rohit. What is the place where you can get the best out of Rohit? He can open and easily score a century over 20 overs. The question arises, what’s best for Mumbai? As Anil bhai said, he may be more useful to the team batting at number four. It’s a toss-up between what’s best for Rohit and what’s best for Mumbai.”
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