Rohit Sharma has hit his highest score of the tournament. This was true in every single match Rohit played in IPL 2025. Each game, he scored more runs than he had in the previous one. The problem is, Rohit Sharma’s score in Mumbai Indians’ last match – against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 17 – was 26. His scoring sequence has been: 0, 8, 13, 17, 18 and 26 in six games so far. That’s 82 runs, at an average of 13.66. The strike rate of 143.9 almost doesn’t matter, because if an opener is scoring only 13 runs per game, it doesn’t help the team even if he does it in three balls each game.
Rohit’s form in IPL 2025
He began with a four-ball duck against Chennai Super Kings, so it could only go upwards from there. But two aspects from that first match have continued through the IPL for Rohit. He has not lasted beyond the powerplay, and he has always been Mumbai’s first wicket to fall. He missed one game due to an injury, but in six of the other games MI have played, this trend has held true.
Opening in T20 cricket is probably the easiest job for batters. You get the luxury of a few more balls than most to get your eye in, and you have the fielding restrictions in the powerplay to take advantage of. It’s why, across tournaments the world over, it’s generally the openers (or at most No.3) who top the run tallies.
With half their IPL league phase done, Mumbai have three wins and four losses. Two of the wins have come in their last two games, which is a positive sign for them. They have Jasprit Bumrah back too, which lends the bowling attack a completely different air. But can they afford to have an opener who is facing only 9.5 balls per innings?
MI’s batting positions
Right now, MI also have a batting order where everyone is batting slightly out of position. They have three men in Rohit, Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks who are best suited to open. Both Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma should ideally be in the top four. And when you have both Hardik Pandya and Naman Dhir, you don’t want one of them to languish at No.7 where they might hardly get a hit.
If MI pick only two openers though, the batting order sorts itself naturally. It also gives them the flexibility of having either an allrounder, or an extra batter, or an extra bowler at 7, depending on what the match and conditions dictate.
While MI could opt to bench Jacks, it will be a tough call given his Player-of-the-Match performance against SRH. Rickelton is the keeper, so he is automatically in too. Which makes Rohit’s position – given his lack of runs – more vulnerable.
Signs of a turnaround?
What Rohit has in his favour is that in the brief knock against SRH, he showed signs of coming back to his imperious best. There was a pulled six off Mohammed Shami that was vintage Rohit, and a pick-up flick against Pat Cummins that would have had watchers drooling. The authority and timing in those shots suggested a batter in his prime. And let there be no doubt: a Rohit Sharma even close to his prime is a batter worth having in your line-up every single match, every single time. At his best, Rohit literally scares opposition captains and bowlers, because they don’t know which part of the ground to protect. They also know that a 20-run over can come against any bowler, any time. It makes all plans go awry, not to speak of the hammering a bowler’s confidence takes when a perfectly good ball is nonchalantly pulled over the ropes.
At his best, it’s worth having Rohit in the XI even at the cost of displaced batting positions for a number of others in the MI lineup.
What MI need to ask themselves is this: was the knock against SRH a sign that Rohit is returning to his best, or is it time to take a tough call on him.
