IPL 2022: I felt Rohit Sharma might leave captaincy like Virat Kohli, hand the responsibility to Pollard – Sanjay Manjrekar

Prior to the start of the ongoing IPL 2022, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar felt that Rohit Sharma might leave captaincy like Virat Kohli and just enjoy as a batter.

Manjrekar added that Kieron Pollard, who has all the captaincy experience, could have taken over the baton from MI.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli decided to relinquish his captaincy duties from RCB after the end of the previous season. Kohli couldn’t lead RCB to any silverware after he was appointed captain back in IPL 2013.

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma is the most successful IPL captain in the tournament’s history as he has led the franchise to five titles. Furthermore, Rohit took over as India’s captain in all three forms of the game.

But Mumbai Indians have got off to a horrid start as they are the solitary team in IPL 2022 which hasn’t won a single match thus far. The five-time champions have lost all of their four matches and Rohit Sharma is under the pump to deliver both as a leader as well as an opening batter.

Sanjay Manjrekar said while talking to ESPN Cricinfo, “I feel Pollard still adds value. [Before the season] I even felt Rohit Sharma might leave captaincy like Virat Kohli, relax a bit, play as a pure batter and hand the responsibility to Pollard who is a brilliant international captain.”

Manjrekar lauded Kieron Pollard for delivering the goods for Mumbai Indians in crunch situations of the game.

“Pollard still has the capability, I can see that from the sixes he hits. He’ll contribute in the pressure match, the crunch game. But they need to reach there first and that’s not on Pollard, it never has been. He’s never contributed throughout the season for Mumbai Indians. He plays one innings in a pressure game and sees the team through. Others need to work better because Pollard is doing his usual job.”

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma hasn’t been able to deliver as a batter at the top of the order for Mumbai Indians in the last couple of seasons. Rohit has thus far scored only 80 runs in four matches at an average of 20 and a strike rate of 125.

“His record has been like this for the last 3-4 seasons, average less than 30, strike-rate not 150 or 160. When he plays for India his numbers get better… because then he only thinks about himself and less about the team. When playing IPL, he tries to play the anchor role similar to what KL Rahul did with Punjab Kings and Hardik Pandya did in the last matc. If he plays freely, we’ll see the Rohit Sharma we see in Indian cricket.”

MI will face PBKS on Wednesday at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.