Dubai: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the two pillars of Indian cricket, are always in the news. Be it their stellar performances or lack of it, they are in the spotlight. In this Indian Premier League Season 16, the two batters have reversed their roles.
While Kohli went through a bad patch last year and is in good nick this year, Rohit Sharma has been in the worst of his form, having the dubious record of having the most ducks as a batter in IPL. Several former stars and TV pundits are suggesting the Mumbai Indians skipper take a break and comeback fresh for the World Test Championship and then the World Cup in India later this year. But is it the right move?
Read and watch more
- Are Twenty20 franchise leagues threatening international cricket
- IPL 2023: How low-scoring thrillers are keeping fans on the edge
- Watch IPL 2023 analysis: What makes Rashid Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal special cricketers
- Watch IPL analysis: How CSK's Dhoni and RCB's Faf du Plessis revived their teams
- IPL 2023: Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly bury the hatchet with a handshake
- Indian cricketer Shubhman Gill to lend voice for 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'
Pros and cons
Unless Rohit Sharma spends sufficient time in the middle, scoring a few knocks, it is going to be difficult for him to get his confidence back. However, there seems to be different of opinions among the Gulf News experts. Should he play or should he not play, what should be his approach, many pros and cons were all discussed. One thing is for sure, Rohit Sharma needs to change his approach and so is Kohli.
Though star Royal Challengers Bangalore batter is among the runs, currently in fifth spot for the Orange Cap with 419 runs from 10 matches, sometimes his knocks are putting his team in difficult situations. Strange as it may sound, Twenty20 is all about scoring quickly. But it is here that Kohli has not been among his best. A change in his approach will help Royal Challengers maintain their consistency and go all the way to winning their maiden IPL crown.
What went wrong for Royals
From Ajinkya Rahane’s form that is taking him to the Leicester County Cricket and giving his place back in the Indian Test team to the form of Sunrisers Hyderabad and where Rajasthan Royals went wrong, losing five of their six games, this episode of Talking IPL has many points to ponder.
For more of IPL, watch the video. Our special guest of the week is Paul Nixon, former England cricketer and one of the coaches at the Mentors Academy by JMR Sporting, Dubai. We also have cricket enthusiast Sai Prasad to talk about the IPL week that was.
