A change in batting position hasn’t aided Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma in leaving behind a lean patch in the ongoing 16th season of the Indian Premier League. Sharma, who batted at No. 3 in an IPL match for the first time in almost half-a-decade, registered his second consecutive duck (fourth consecutive instance of not crossing the 10-run mark).
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It was on the penultimate delivery of the third over when Sharma became the third Indians’ batter to be dismissed in IPL 2023 Match 49 after Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and chose to bowl at the MA Chidambaram Stadium today.
Second wicket of the over for pacer Deepak Chahar, Sharma’s attempt of scooping the right-arm bowler saw him lobbing the ball towards Super Kings all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja at point.
A primary reason behind Sharma looking to take refuge in innovation was Dhoni deciding to keep up to the stumps to restrict him from using his feet. Not even waiting for one delivery, the right-handed batter looked to make use of the vacant boundary region behind the stumps only to walk back to the pavilion after facing just three balls.
Sharma, who sacrificed his opening spot for all-rounder Cameron Green (6) in order to promote a budding hard-hitting batter in the batting order, neither thrived individually or witnessed his team thriving as the home team reduced Mumbai to 14/3 inside the first three overs. Only time will tell whether the move to demote Sharma in the batting order is a makeshift arrangement or a permanent one.
Rohit Sharma Last 10 IPL Innings List (Updated on May 26, 2023)
Speaking of Sharma’s dejecting IPL 2023 form, the 36-year old player’s 332 runs across 16 innings have come at an average of 22.13 and a strike rate of 133.87 including two half-centuries.
| S. No. | Score | Balls | 4s | 6s | Opposition | Ground |
| 1 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | GT | Ahmedabad |
| 2 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 1 | LSG | Chennai |
| 3 | 56 | 37 | 8 | 1 | SRH | Mumbai (WS) |
| 4 | 37 | 25 | 1 | 3 | LSG | Lucknow |
| 5 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 2 | GT | Mumbai (WS) |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | RCB | Mumbai (WS) |
| 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | CSK | Chennai |
| 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | PBKS | Mohali |
| 9 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | RR | Mumbai (WS) |
| 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | GT | Ahmedabad |
