Former Australian national cricket team captain Aaron Finch has highlighted the biggest challenge for Rohit Sharma ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Rohit Sharma is no longer the captain of Mumbai Indians (MY) in the Indian Premier League and will play under the leadership of Hardik Pandya in the next edition of the competition.
The decision to replace Rohit Sharma at the helm with the return of Hardik Pandya did not sit well with fans as they felt the franchise disrespected the Indian captain. Notably, Rohit took over as captain of the team in 2013 and guided them to five titles. He still has quite a few years left in him and could have easily remained the captain of the team.
Meanwhile, Aaron Finch has opined that the challenge for Rohit Sharma will be to simply go out and open the batting. He also opined that without captaincy pressure, Rohit will bat much more freely.
“I think for Rohit, the challenge would be to just go out and open the batting like he has done so many times for India and Mumbai over the years. This could be a relief for his shoulders,” Finch said during Star Sports’ Game Plan Show.
“When you are captain of a team constantly, everywhere you go you are the captain of the team. You can get very wrapped up in that, so now having the freedom to go out and bat will be beneficial for him personally and for Mumbai Indians.”
The former Mumbai Indians (MI) captain has not been very impressive with the bat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a long period of time and without captaincy pressure on his shoulders, he would be eager to unleash his beast mode. as opener.
After IPL 2024, Rohit Sharma will once again return to the leadership role as he will lead the Indian national cricket team in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
When you add Mitchell Starc to any T20 team you will be better – Aaron Finch
Finch further spoke about the acquisition of his former teammate Mitchell Starc by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a record ₹24.75 crore.
According to the former Australia captain, the addition of Mitchell Starc to the KKR lineup would do wonders for the franchise as he is lethal in all phases of the game. However, Aaron Finch was worried about the back problems faced by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Shreyas Iyer.
“I think KKR will improve on their (performance) from last year, they were not at their best last year. But it would be interesting to see Shreyas (Iyer’s) injury cloud to see how much of an impact he has throughout the tournament,” said Finch, who featured for as many as eight IPL teams, including the Kolkata Knight Riders.
“When you add Mitchell Starc to any T20 team you will be better, his ability with the new ball to swing it forward will provide very valuable wickets… and in the powerplay which is so important to the game. And his death bowling is obviously exceptional too.”
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will open their IPL 2024 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. on March 23.