"Tactically I don't think he was at his best this IPL" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Rohit Sharma's captaincy after defeat to GT in Qualifier 2

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was critical of Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma's captaincy, particularly in the first half of the season, after their IPL 2023 campaign ended at the hands of the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 2 on Friday, May 26.

The Rohit Sharma-led franchise started the season by losing four of their first seven games and fell behind in the playoff race. They rebounded spectacularly in the second half, winning five of their last seven games to qualify for the playoffs.

Despite finishing in the final three of the tournament, Manjrekar felt that the MI skipper made several tactical selection errors in the first half of the season that eventually proved costly.

Speaking on ESPN Cricinfo after Mumbai's defeat in the Eliminator 2, the 57-year-old Manjrekar said:

"Tactically the two best teams have been CSK and Titans, why not Mumbai Indians. So tactically also with off field tactics, their players selection in the first half as well, where you would wonder why certain players played at that stage and there were some important losses that happened so all those you would think those are the controllables that he didn't do a great job. "

He added:

"What I won't be too critical about is failures with the bat but tactically I don't think he was at his best this IPL."

However, former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody begged to differ and felt that Rohit Sharma performed exceedingly well as captain, considering the several injuries within the team. He opined:

"I thought from a captaincy point of view he remained consistent and he has to take some sort of credit for the team that was made up of few bits and pieces because of injuries and because of the disruptions they had to get them playing finals cricket."

MI was without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah throughout the season due to injury and missed English star Jofra Archer for most of the season due to a recurrence of the elbow injury that kept him out of the entire season last year. The team was also without talented youngster Tilak Varma for a few games during the season.

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"One thing I did admire with Rohit Sharma was the consistency of the way he presented himself" - Tom Moody on Rohit Sharma's batting through the season

Tom Moody credited Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma's positive intent with the bat throughout the season despite his disastrous numbers after the team's elimination from the tournament.

The former Australian all-rounder felt that Rohit's intent and consistency in approach, despite diminishing returns, set the tone and rubbed off on the other batters in the team.

Moody said:

"Clearly a disappointing year with the bat, there is no question about that. He would look back on it a little bit frustrated. But one thing I did admire with Rohit Sharma was the consistency of the way he presented himself and the intent he played with and I think that's really important is that he clearly had that mantra this year that this is the way that we are playing our cricket, we've got the depth in our batting, I am going to lead from the front and show that intent."

He added:

"He got criticized and has been criticised for it but I think the consistency of showing that intent is important, it may have not reflected on the scoreboard but it reflected in the dressing room where others drew energy from that leadership," added Moody.

Fellow commentator Sanjay Manjrekar felt that the players in the team took inspiration from Rohit trying valiantly to lead from the front, despite the skipper's miserable season with the bat. He said:

"Rohit's batting doesn't help when you are wanting to lead by example but he tried his best and the players take a lot of inspiration from the captain trying hard and doing what's best for the team when things are not happening."

Rohit Sharma endured another poor IPL season, scoring only 332 runs in 16 matches at an average of 20.75. The MI skipper also endured a disastrous campaign last year, when he averaged only 19.14 in 14 games.