Mumbai Indians let too many good players go, rebuilding a team is not easy: Mohammad Azharuddin

The five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) are struggling in IPL 2022 with no victories after five league matches. The former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin spoke about the performance of MI this season and shared his views on Rohit Sharma as well.

Azharuddin gave his response to Suryakumar Yadav’s statement of MI being in a rebuilding phase and that there will be many players from MI who will make it big in international cricket soon. Azharuddin reckoned that it will be quite difficult for the team to rebuild and perform like the way they did in the past as they don’t have the presence of players like Quinton de Kock, Pandya brothers, and Trent Boult, who all were key performers for the team until 2021. He said that youngsters Tilak Varma and Dewald Brevis have been impressive in the initial matches of the tournament.

“Mumbai let too many good players go from the side, and you can’t rebuild the side, it’s quite difficult. They had the likes of Pandya brothers, Quinton de Kock, and Boult as well. Currently, they do not have many skillful players and one of the openers, Rohit or Ishan, will have to bat until the 15th over. But, the youngsters Brevis and Tilak Varma are doing quite well,” said Azharuddin on Sky247.net presents ‘Not Just Cricket Show’ on CricTracker.

Rohit Sharma needs to bat deep: Mohammad Azharuddin 

On being asked about Rohit’s five dismissals, out of which three of them have come while playing the pull shot, Azharuddin reckoned that he needs to change his instincts and stay on the crease for the betterment of the team. He said that sometimes the batters need to avoid playing their favourite shot to be of help for the team. Further, he urged Rohit to bat until the 17th or 18th over.

“A player like Rohit Sharma can play even one or two overs as maidens even, but it will not matter as he can do well in the final overs. Because when you are properly set, and batting in the 17th or 18th over, the bowlers are scared to bowl to you and can score more runs. But, he needs to restrain from the pull shots, which are not providing him good results,”Azharuddin added.