Courtesy: BCCI/IPL/Google
Former India batter Manoj Tiwary has called out Mumbai Indians (MI) opener Rohit Sharma for his poor form following the veteran’s cheap dismissal against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Following a mammoth score of 197 runs, Rohit came to open MI’s innings with Ryan Rickelton and struck a couple of boundaries in the first three deliveries of the opening over bowled by Mohammed Siraj. Siraj made a comeback on the fourth delivery and cleaned him up. With this innings, Rohit recorded failure in two consecutive games. Mumbai registered a 36-run defeat in the match and after the loss, Rohit has come under fierce criticism for his back-to-back failures.
Tiwary appeared on CricBuzz and brought attention to Rohit’s IPL form. He also emphasised on the veteran’s inability to score runs for MI consistently in recent years. Tiwary also pointed to Rohit’s IPL 2024 performance, when MI removed the opener from captaincy and brought back all-rounder Hardik Pandya as captain in the team.
"Look, I'm telling you, I don't want to be tough, but I must be. For some players, you have to be. Look, it's high time Rohit Sharma got back among the runs. The ability of a player like Rohit Sharma is not 400. Last season, he scored 400, he hit a century, that's fine. But where is the 800-900 season? Rohit is just not able to have these types of seasons. Why does Virat Kohli always score? You tell me. It's equally good. It's equally good, but there should be a season where Rohit scores 600-700," said Tiwary to CricBuzz.
MI will look to bounce back against Kolkata Knight Riders at home
Mumbai Indians will chase their first victory in their first home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to be played at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on March 31. After witnessing two defeats in a row, MI fans will want their team to make their home debut of the season scintillating against defending champions KKR, who struggle against them generally.
Notably, Mumbai have emerged victorious 23 times out of 34 games against Kolkata in history of the league. Kolkata won their previous game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) convincingly in Guwahati and they will look to give a tough time to Mumbai.
