“You may be a big king, but if your soldiers are weak you will lose the battle” - Mohammad Kaif on MI skipper Rohit Sharma’s quandary in IPL 2022

Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif has equated Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma to a big king with weak soldiers after the franchise lost their third consecutive IPL 2022 clash on Wednesday.

MI went down to KKR by five wickets in Pune, failing to defend 161. At one stage, Mumbai reduced Kolkata to 83 for four. However, a record-equalling fastest IPL fifty (14 balls) by Pat Cummins sunk the five-time champions.

Asked if Rohit can do something to turn the tide for his IPL team, Kaif said on Sportskeeda’s special show SK Straight Talk that it looks difficult because he just doesn’t have the players this time. Speaking about Rohit’s predicament, he said:

“No matter how big a captain one is, and I rate Rohit Sharma very highly as a leader, without players he cannot do anything. You may be a big king, but if your soldiers are weak then you will lose the battle.”

Kaif attributed MI’s underwhelming performance in IPL 2022 so far to some poor planning at the auction, particularly with regards to picking bowlers. The 41-year-old elaborated:

“The skill level of Mumbai bowlers isn’t that high this season. The team put together at the auction was not up to the mark. Look at the bowlers picked. Not many other teams went after Daniel Sams or Basil Thampi. Tymal Mills was with RCB earlier but they too released him. There is too much pressure on Bumrah. He fought hard but I feel the total was too low. They should have reached 180, which is a par score."

Sams went for 50 in his three overs against KKR, 35 off them came in the 16th over, which turned out to be the last over of the match.

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“They will look at some of the talent on the bench” - Kaif on the road ahead for Rohit and Co.

While not predicting wholesale changes for the Mumbai team in the upcoming games, Kaif admitted that the franchise will be forced to try out some players who haven’t got a chance. He also pointed out that MI have recovered from his situation before, but explained why things are even tougher compared to previous seasons.

Kaif concluded about MI’s woes:

“They will look at some of the talent they have on the bench. MI have won IPLs before as well after losing five to six games. So they won’t give up and will keep fighting. They will look to fine tune but the pressure will be greater. Last season, teams qualified after winning six to seven games. But now a team will need to win eight to nine games to finish in the top four, so that’s an additional challenge.”

According to the IPL 2022 schedule, Mumbai’s next match in IPL 2022 will be against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the MCA Stadium in Pune on April 9.