'He is underrated, the man has won 5 titles for Mumbai Indians' - Sunil Gavaskar opines on Rohit Sharma's captaincy skills in IPL

Sunil Gavaskar, former India skipper and a legend of the game, feels that Rohit Sharma, as Mumbai Indians’ captain, is undervalued in the Indian Premier League and that he doesn't receive as much appreciation for his leadership skills as the Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni does.

Gavaskar emphasized how the India skipper planned Lucknow Super Giants' defeat in the IPL 2023 Eliminator on May 24, when the two sides met in Chennai, saying that some of Rohit's on-field choices that help Mumbai succeed have already been discussed enough.

Sunil Gavaskar praised Mumbai Indians for having self-confidence despite a dismal start to the cash-rich event this season. After losing four of their first seven games and falling to the bottom of the IPL 2023 points standings, MI rebounded to win five of their next seven games to advance to the playoffs.

In an interview with India Today, Gavaskar noted Rohit Sharma’s tactics, when he used Akash Madhwal to get rid of the young hitter Ayush Badoni and Windies star Nicholas Pooran in one over, and said that Rohit suggested a change in angle during their dismissals, which was not much talked about.

“Of course, he is underrated. The man has won 5 titles for Mumbai Indians. Let me give you an example. Maddhwal got Ayush Badoni, bowling over the wicket. He then went round the wicket to the left-hander Nicholas Pooran. Not a lot of bowlers necessarily do that because if they get their rhythm going bowling over the wicket, they will stick to over the wicket even if it's a left-hander, trying to leave the left-hander,” Gavaskar said.

“But he went around the wicket and produced an absolute gem of a delivery and got the man out. If that had been CSK and Dhoni was the captain. Everybody would have said 'Dhoni plotted Nicholas Pooran's dismissal. This is what happens to a great extent. There is also a little bit of hype, things sometimes work out,” he added.

Rohit Sharma did not get the credit: Gavaskar

Mumbai Indians successfully defended 182 runs against Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday in Chennai, crushing them by 81 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Mumbai rode on Akash Madhwal's spectacular five-wicket haul to annihilate Krunal Pandya-led LSG after cameos from Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav in the first innings.

“What I am saying is Rohit Sharma did not get the credit for telling Madhwal to bowl round the wicket. The captaincy situation as well. Remember, Nehal Wadhera was used as an impact player batting first. Teams generally don't use batters as Impact Player when they are batting first. But Rohit used Nehwal when MI were batting first against LSG. So please give him credit for that as well,” Gavaskar concluded.

Mumbai Indians overtook RCB to advance to the playoffs and are only one victory away from making it to their seventh IPL final in 16 editions of the tournament. They will be facing defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 26 in the Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2023, and a victory would lead them to the summit clash against their arch-rivals CSK.