Five-time champions Mumbai Indians suffered a crushing defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Tuesday, going down against the holders Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing a big target of 208, the Rohit Sharma-led side was restricted to a total of 152/9 in 20 overs, with Afghan spinner Noor Ahmad (3/37) and Rashid Khan (2/27) sharing five wickets between them to lead GT’s charge. After MI’s top-order collapse, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has suggested that star batter Rohit needs to take a break.
Rohit was dismissed on 2 (8) by his counterpart Hardik during MI’s defeat on Tuesday. Gavaskar suggested that Rohit should focus more on the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final, adding that the MI skipper “looks a little pre-occupied”.
“I would like to see some change in the batting order [for Mumbai Indians]. Honestly, I would also say that Rohit should maybe also take a break for the time being, and keep himself fit for the World Test Championship [final]. [He can] come back again for the last few matches, but right now, [he should] take a little bit of a breather himself,” Sunil Gavaskar said while talking to Star Sports as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“He is looking just that little bit preoccupied. Maybe at this stage he is thinking about the WTC [final], I don’t know,” Gavaskar said. “But I do believe that at this stage he needs a little bit of a break, and come back for the last three or four matches so that he is in rhythm for the World Test Championship [final].”
Notably, former India captain Virat Kohli had taken break from cricket last year, following a lean patch with the bat.
Kohli spoke about mental health and what went wrong at that point.
“I am feeling light for sure. It wasn’t just about the work load of cricket, there were other things that were happening as well which contributed to me going into that space,” Kohli had told Star Sports last year.
“I learnt a lot in this time. I was looking at things from one lens, you play with passion, you play with a lot of heart, but the perception outside might not be the same and people might not understand the value of that as well,” he added.
India announced their squad for the WTC final against Australia on Tuesday, with former captain Ajinkya Rahane being recalled to the side, following his exploits in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings this season.
Rahane, a veteran of 82 Test matches, last played for India in the longest format of the game in January last year. Since then, he was not considered for selection owing to poor form.
India squad for WTC final against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
The summit clash between India and Australia will be held from June 07 to June 11 at the Oval in London.
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