‘Uska jane ka time aagaya. MI need someone to tell Rohit Sharma…’: Sehwag vexed, sends ‘before retiring…’ warning
Apr 17, 2025 09:07 PM IST
Rohit Sharma averages only 24.39 in the IPL since 2023, the second lowest for an opener (min. 25 innings).
Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag warned Mumbai Indians star Rohit Sharma amid his dwindling returns with the bat in the ongoing IPL 2025 season, where he managed just 56 runs in five innings at just 11.20. He has yet to score more than 20 runs in an innings this year in the tournament, and since 2023, he averages only 24.39 in the IPL, the second lowest for an opener (min. 25 innings).
Speaking to Cricbuzz after the toss on Thursday for the match between Mumbai and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium, Sehwag sounded frustrated at Rohit’s inability to get a 400-run IPL season despite all his talent and rather blamed him for his renewed approach to go attack the new-ball bowlers in the powerplay in white-ball cricket. The India legend reckoned that his meagre returns with the bat in IPL are only hurting his legacy.
“If you look at Rohit’s IPL numbers in the last 10 years, he scored more than 400 runs only once. So he is not the kind of player who thinks that I need to score 500 or 700 runs. If he thinks, he might. When he became the Indian captain, he said that he wanted to be the player who wants to cash in on the powerplay and take the chances, so he wanted to make all the sacrifices alone, but he is not considering the fact that at the end of the day when he is not performing, it is your legacy that is getting hurt. Ab uska jaane ka time aagaya, (It’s already time for him to retire), and before retiring, you would want to give fans something to remember you by, and not moments that force them to think, why are they not dropping him,” he said.
‘Someone should tell Rohit Sharma that…’
In a direct message to Rohit, Sehwag urged the 37-year-old to let go of his aggressive approach and give himself a chance to prove his worth in the IPL. However, he also felt that someone should be in the Mumbai Indians dressing room to sit with him and explain it to him amid calls to drop him from the playing XI.
“Take 10 balls extra, but at least play and give yourself a chance. He has been getting out to that pull shot many times against the back of the length deliveries. So he should decide that in one innings he will not play the pull shot at all. But who will explain it to him? There should be someone telling him to play normal cricket. When I was there, Sachin, Dravid or Ganguly used to tell me to play normal cricket,” he added.
