Mumbai Indians is having a rather poor outing in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. The five-time champions are struggling to get going in the league and have lost their opening 4 matches. After a dismal performance in the 15th season of IPL, Rohit Sharma’s captaincy has come under the scanner as Sanjay Manjrekar backs MI all-rounder’s leadership skills and had assumed that Rohit would hand over the captaincy to him.
Sanjay Manjrekar backs Kieron Pollard
Kieron Pollard has been one of the most vital cogs in the MI setup and has provided a lot of value to his team. While Rohit Sharma has been phenomenal as a captain, Sanjay Manjrekar backs Kieron Pollard to replace Rohit as the captain. Manjrekar even thought that Rohit would hand over the captaincy to Pollard before the commencement of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League.
Players like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni who had captained their respective franchises, left captaincy before the season started. Manjrekar had the same feeling about Rohit Sharma and thought that the MI skipper would pass the baton to Pollard who could prove to be a very good captain. Sanjay Manjrekar backs Pollard because the Windies player has been captaining the national side quite successfully.
In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “Pollard, in my opinion, continues to offer value. I even thought Rohit Sharma would follow Virat Kohli’s footsteps and step down as captain, relax a little, play as a pure batter, and pass the baton to Pollard, a wonderful international captain.”
While praising Pollard, Manjrekar also remarked that Rohit Sharma needs to be selfish and play freely in order to make an impact. The MI skipper has been getting starts but has not been able to score big and this is not the case in this season only. Rohit has been playing average cricket in the last 3-4 seasons he has played for his team. Manjrekar feels that Rohit needs to take the burden off his shoulders and play for himself.
“He aims to play the anchor role in the IPL, similar to what KL Rahul did with Punjab Kings and Hardik Pandya did in the previous season. We’ll see the Rohit Sharma we see in Indian cricket if he’s allowed to play freely,” added Manjrekar.
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Mumbai Indians will play their next game against Punjab Kings on 13th April and will look to register their first points in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League. Currently the team is on the last position with no points in their kitty.
