"The franchise might think that it's not turning out to be a fruitful partnership" - Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma's 'pedestrian' IPL 2023 for MI

Aakash Chopra feels the Mumbai Indians (MI) might review their association with Rohit Sharma if their skipper continues to dish out underwhelming performances as he has done in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

MI, who were the wooden spoon holders in the last season of the prestigious league, bounced back to finish third in IPL 2023. However, Rohit endured a second successive poor season with the bat and looked far from his usual fluent self throughout the tournament.

While reflecting on Mumbai's IPL 2023 campaign in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that Rohit's future with the franchise might be at stake:

"Rohit didn't really come to the party. Although he captains very well, the franchise might think that it's not turning out to be a fruitful partnership if he does not do well consistently as he has an extremely important position in the batting order."

The former Indian opener pointed out that the Mumbai Indians captain tended to throw away his wicket in the few times he got off to a start:

"This has become a sort of pattern and it is not a good thing. He started very slowly, then was dismissed for zero twice in a row, and it seemed it would turn out very bad. Then he did score a few runs for sure but we saw quite a few times that he got out while trying to play a big shot."

Rohit aggregated 332 runs at a lowly average of 20.75 in his 16 innings in IPL 2023. He scored only two half-centuries, with 65 being his best effort.

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"We saw Rohit Sharma going through extremely poor form this year" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra highlighted that Rohit Sharma's usual sublime strokeplay was not seen in IPL 2023, saying:

"The quality that he possesses, when your close your eyes and think about Rohit Sharma - short ball and he hits a pull into the stands, he will play an extremely beautiful drive or hit a six against spin while standing at his position - these pictures come to your mind, but we saw Rohit Sharma going through extremely poor form this year."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the Mumbai Indians opener's form is a massive concern as he had an indifferent IPL 2022 as well:

"The last year was also similar. The season before that was okay but the last two seasons have been very pedestrian, they have been extremely middling seasons. If we see from Rohit Sharma's standards, they have been extremely ordinary. I feel this was a huge area of concern for this team."

Rohit aggregated 268 runs at an even poorer average of 19.14 in IPL 2022. The stylish batter hasn't averaged 30 in any of the last seven seasons of the IPL and might need to be more consistent to deserve a place at the top of the order for the Mumbai Indians.