Rohit Sharma is one of the two best captains in IPL history. He’s won all of their 5 IPL titles. And in the IPL 2023, he’s showing once again why he’s so special as a leader.
Mumbai Indians were already on the backfoot when they lost two fast bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson – to injuries ahead of the start of the IPL 2023. Both Bumrah and Richardson were supposed to be MI’s first-choice bowlers. And as anyone would testify, losing two first-choice players, especially two fast bowlers capable of winning the match on their own, was a massive dent in their hopes of returning to glory days.
They had still Jofra Archer in their arsenal. Until Archer’s elbow injury flared up again after only the first match. In the 5 matches so far, Archer played only the first match and then missed the next four games.
What do Mumbai Indians and Rohit Sharma do after that?
Rohit Sharma does what he does the best with MI: make a comeback, shock everyone, propel lesser-known players into the IPL cauldron and they win the games for them. After losing their first two matches, MI have spectacularly won their last three matches, and their latest win, over SRH in Hyderabad, was the most impressive one because it came while defending a total with a bowling line-up that not many gave any chances to defend a total.
Paltan’s bowling attack in the past four matches has comprised Arjun Tendulkar (price of INR 30 lakh),
Hrithik Shokeen (INR 20 lakh), Duan Jansen (INR 20 lakh), Cameron Green (little bowling experience in T20 cricket), Piyush Chawla( INR 50 lakh and who had played in only 8 matches in the last three IPL seasons), Riley Meredith (fast but highly inconsistent), and Jason Behrendorff (INR 75 lakh and who had not played in the IPL in last three seasons).
@mipaltan ❤️😍3 wins in a row; something I didn't think we could get after 2 losses at the start. But this is MI..Great that it's come while defending a total. https://t.co/5d4bFJitJX pic.twitter.com/fgiRc6cxBl
— Jatin Khandelwal (@Jatin_Cricket_) April 18, 2023
Fans have commended MI Skipper for winning 3 matches in a row with this bowling attack, wherein the likes of Shokeen, Arjun, Duan, and Green are inexperienced while Chawla and Behrendorff don’t have much IPL cricket behind them coming into this season, and in fact, the best form of any bowler in their attack heading into the IPL was of Riley Meredith, who wasn’t even picked up in the auction and came in as an injury replacement of Richardson.
