"Sometimes dropping a player for one game can do wonders for him" - Virender Sehwag on Ishan Kishan getting benched

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has backed Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma’s decision to bench out-of-form wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan. Kishan failed to make it to MI's playing XI for their fixture against the Punjab Kings on Tuesday (September 28).

After the last game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rohit Sharma asserted in the post-match presentation that the team management will continue to back Kishan in the forthcoming games. Resultantly, while announcing team changes for MI's ongoing clash against Punjab Kings during the toss, Sharma looked slightly embarrassed while revealing Kishan had been benched.

However, Sehwag believes Sharma made the right call by benching Kishan. According to the former Indian opener, sometimes leaving out an out-of-form player can help them out in the longer run.

Speaking at CricBuzz Live, Sehwag said:

"He (Rohit) looked embarrassed because after the last game he had said that the management will back Ishan Kishan and he'll stay in the playing XI. I don't think there is any issue in dropping an Indian player. We have seen several instances of an Indian player getting benched in the IPL. He could have said the player will be backed but we are giving a break for one game."

Mumbai Indians made a couple of changes to their playing XI for the encounter against Punjab. While Saurabh Tiwary replaced Ishan Kishan, Adam Milne made way for Nathan Coulter-Nile.

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Rohit shouldn't be sorry or embarrassed for dropping Kishan: Virender Sehwag

The former opener further added that Rohit should not feel embarrassed at his decision to drop Ishan Kishan from the playing XI.

According to Sehwag, the teams’ cause should always come first and only those players who are deserving enough, should make their way into the line-up.

"Sometimes dropping a player for one game can do wonders for him as it will make him think about his issues that resulted in him losing his place in the team. Rohit shouldn't be sorry or embarrassed because for him team should come fast and the deserving players should play in the first XI,’" added Sehwag.

Meanwhile, former cricketer Ajay Jadeja opined that Ishan Kishan has looked a broken man due to his consistent failures this season. Jadeja believes this may have forced the Mumbai team-management to take the call to get him out of the firing line for a few games.

"You generally don't see Mumbai dropping out of form players instantly but with the player having lost confidence, it might have prompted the management to give a break," said Jadeja.

This isn’t the first time that Mumbai have dropped Kishan from their playing XI this season. The Jharkhand stumper lost his place after a string of poor outings during the first leg in India. He regained his place at the start of the UAE leg but three back-to-back failures have once again consigned him to the bench.

In eight innings in IPL 2021, Kishan managed just 107 runs at an average of 13.38 and a strike rate of 86.99.