“After a lacklustre performance against KKR, at least show respect for the bowler—Virender Sehwag lashes out at Rohit and Suryakumar.”

Suryakumar was also unable to get going, as Andre Russell removed him for an 11 off 14 balls. He attempted to pull a slower short ball from outside off-stump, but was caught at deep square after failing to make a solid connection. Once they played knocks with strike rates below 100, both of the veteran Indian bats returned to the pitch.

When the Mumbai Indians lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 18 runs on Saturday, May 11, at Eden Gardens, both veteran batsmen Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav received criticism from Virender Sehwag.

The Knight Riders were asked to bat first and scored 157/7 in the rain-shortened 16-over-per-side match. Ishan Kishan’s 40 off 22 balls gave the visitors a quick start during the powerplay in response. But Rohit, his opening partner, could not establish his rhythm and eventually left the game for a 24-ball 19. He attempted to play Varun Chakaravarthy a sweep shot, but he was unable to do it flawlessly. The captain of India could only muster a top-edge, taken at short fine leg.

Sehwag, a former opener for India, blasted Rohit and the other player for their exit. In test conditions, the Nawab of Najafgarh stated that it’s critical to recognise the good balls and keep one’s ego off the pitch.

“Just play him out, whoever has terrific bowling form. Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav could have concluded the contest an over earlier if two wickets hadn’t dropped. Sehwag told Cricbuzz, “They would have won the game if they had played out the spinners and didn’t lose the wickets. Vaibhav Arora, Mitchell Starc, Andre Russell, and Harshit Rana had to bowl anyhow.

“Having an ego when you take the pitch is not acceptable. You either let them play out or penalise the poor delivery. At the very end, Naman Dhir struck two sixes and a four; had Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav been in position, they would have hit five balls for boundaries. If you can’t appreciate the bowler, at least respect the delivery. You could be Suryakumar Yadav or Rohit Sharma. It was not a poor ball that Rohit Sharma was dismissed off of. While Rohit and Suryakumar are undoubtedly excellent players, Sehwag continued, “it doesn’t mean you have to hit the good deliveries, too.

In addition to scoring a century against the Chennai Super Kings early in the season, Rohit had a strong start to the 2024 IPL. But, his recent performances have been quite lacklustre, which is bad news for Indian fans because the right-handed batsman will captain the Men in Blue in the T20 World Cup next month.

Also Read: I had prepared Rohit Sharma’s firing in great detail: Varun Chakaravarthy

The Mumbai Indians dropped their ninth game in a row and are still at ninth in the standings. In the meantime, the Knights’ victory over the five-time champions allowed them to advance to the playoffs. At the top of the table with 18 points after 12 games are Shreyas Iyer and company.