IPL 2025: Michael Vaughan questions Rohit Sharma’s place in Mumbai Indians after mundane numbers

Former England captain Michael Vaughan questioned Rohit Sharma’s place in Mumbai Indians’ XI after his poor run of form. Rohit was dismissed by Andre Russell against KKR for only 13 runs off 12 balls at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday.

In the first three matches of the tournament, Rohit has returned with scores of 0, 8 and 13. In fact, the veteran has crossed the 20-run mark on a solitary occasion in the previous 10 IPL innings, managing only 141 runs. 

Before IPL 2025, Rohit scored 180 runs in five matches of the Champions Trophy, including a match-winning knock of 76 runs in the final against New Zealand.

Michael Vaughan said on Cricbuzz, “Remember, you are judging Rohit just as a batter now because he’s not the captain (of Mumbai Indians). No, I think you can’t get away with average numbers and they are average numbers. If your name is not Rohit Sharma, you’re probably losing your place in the side at some stage with those numbers. They’re not good enough for a player like Rohit Sharma. But if if he’s the captain as well and he’s adding his knowledge of being leader, the culture creator that he is, the tactician that he is, and I see it on a regular basis with India, and I’ve seen it with Mumbai in the past.”

Vaughan reckons since Rohit Sharma is a big player, it becomes a problem to drop him but he can’t cope with such low numbers.

“I cannot cope with those numbers. When you’re just the batter now, that’s how we have to judge him, because he isn’t the captain. He needs runs. I am not saying that they’ll get rid of him, and then they’re gonna drop him. But it becomes a problem when you’re star-man, your most senior batter at the top of the order, you kind of looking at in the dressing room and go – ‘Come on, get us off to a start, get your flow back and get your rhythm back, get your mojo back.”

Mumbai Indians will next take on Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Friday.