IPL 2022 - Rohit Sharma not going through a bad patch like Virat Kohli: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former batter Sanjay Manjrekar has distinguished Rohit Sharma's lack of runs in IPL 2022 from Virat Kohli's "bad patch".

He said the Mumbai Indians skipper, despite scoring almost the same number of runs as Kohli this season, is looking in good touch. He continued that 'Hitman' is simply not able to get the big knock that he and his IPL team desperately want.

While Rohit has scored 114 runs from six matches at an average of 19, Kohli has collected 119 runs from seven matches at 19.83. There isn't much difference in the duo's strike rate either, with Rohit striking at 129.55 and Kohli at almost 124. Both national team mainstays have failed to score even a single half-century so far.

Manjrekar's remarks came while assessing Mumbai's issues ahead of their clash against Chennai Super Kings on Thursday. He said Rohit's "machinery looks in top condition" and he just needs to avoid losing his wicket against the run of play.

Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo:

"Rohit is hitting good 20s and whenever he plays he looks in good touch. It's not a bad patch like Virat Kohli who doesn't look in good form. Rohit's machinery looks in top condition but then he gets out suddenly. He's just not getting the (Jos) Buttler-like big score that Mumbai wants from him."

Manjrekar also analyzed the unimpressive returns of Rohit's opening partner, Ishan Kishan, and Mumbai's lower-order champion Kieron Pollard. He said while Ishan tries to get back to his aggressive best with the bat, Pollard should start contributing more with the ball, which his team is also lacking. Manjrekar added:

"I have seen Ishan Kishan's bad patch before as well. When he goes through a bit of low confidence, his strike rate also dips to the 80s, as happened in the first half of the IPL. He simply needs to be back in form. Pollard needs to contribute more with the ball. If he isn't getting the impactful big scores with the bat, he should be used more with the ball because there's a massive requirement there."

Pollard, apart from scoring 82 runs from six games, has bowled seven overs across two matches early in the tournament. He picked up one wicket at a cost of 70 runs across all games. He has had enough chances to win games with the bat, like he's done so many times in the past, but has failed to do so.

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"Either you should change the bowler or tweak his bowling approach" - Sanjay Manjrekar

Manjrekar also opined on Tymal Mills' form - an economy rate of 11.18 for six wickets. He said the Englishman is experimenting too much and if Mumbai can't change his approach, they should replace him soon. Manjrekar said:

"I was seeing him bowl in the last match. In his first over, he bowled six different balls and was very expensive. So either you should change the bowler or tweak his bowling approach. Successful seamers like Josh Hazlewood don't experiment much. If he improves as a bowler then he'll warrant a place in the team else this will continue to be an issue."

Asked what's the bigger issue for the five-time champions, their batting or bowling, Manjrekar picked the latter, saying there's still some "hope" left in the batting department. He concluded by saying:

"Bowling because there's hope in batting in shape of Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Dewald Brevis, if he had scored 60-70 in the last match he would have put his team in winning position, and Surya Kumar Yadav is a top-class batter too. There isn't much hope in the bowling. Feels a bit bad for Jaydev Unadtkat and M Ashwin... They are trying their best but their graph won't go much higher. Batting will have to handle the situation."

One possible change for Rohit and Co. could be bringing in express pacer Riley Meredith for Mills. We'll find out if they go that way at the toss at 7:00 pm IST at the DY Patil Sports Academy. According to the IPL 2022 timetable, the match will commence at 7:30 pm IST onThursday, April 21.