Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri feels that Rohit Sharma’s responsibility as the Mumbai Indians skipper has “doubled” since he doesn’t have the same resources he had in the team before the IPL mega auction in 2022. The five-time champions have lost Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Cock, and Trent Boult in the auction to the other teams.

The past two years have not been the best for the five-time champions, as they finished last in the points table in the 2022 season and are currently placed sixth on the points table in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League.

Speaking to Espncricinfo, Ravi Shastri feels that Rohit Sharma doesn’t have enough experience in the team and said that his job has been doubled due to a lack of resources on their side as he wants to motivate a young bunch of boys to perform in the high-pressure tournament.

“The resources that you had two or three years ago aren’t quite the same. The challenges as a captain might have doubled for him. The work as a captain would have doubled as opposed to two years ago when everything was nice, set – go out there and do the job,” Ravi Shastri said.

“And then comes the challenge of how do you get them [the team] going, how do you motivate that bunch, how do you create a combination, how do you see who is the best in that lot to fit in and deliver at a certain stage of the game.”

The bowling has been the worrying factor for the Rohit Sharma-led side, especially in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah as they conceded more than 200 runs for the third time in a row, just before their previous game against CSK.

Mumbai Indians have been inconsistent in the league stage, with them losing the first two encounters against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, but came back strongly to register a hat-trick of wins, before losing out their way against Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans and won their two next games Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings before losing to arch-rivals Chennai in the second leg.

The Same Team Could Be A Terrific Team In Years Or Two Years’ Time – Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri admitted that is difficult for him to score runs with captaincy pressure and said that it is tough to get the team going despite his poor form, as the body language and energy in the field get affected and reckons that this team can become lethal side with some more experience in one or two years, once players get to know each other.

“If you start getting on a purple patch where you are scoring runs, the job as a captain becomes much easier, the body language on the field changes, that energy on the field is different as opposed to when you are not getting runs. You can go flat no matter who you are,” he stated.

“The same team could be terrific in a year or two years, once they start gelling together. But to get that right mix, that’s the job of the captain,” Ravi Shastri added.

The 36-year-old has struggled to get going in this edition of the Indian Premier League and had a poor outing for the five-time champions so far with the bat as he scored only 184 runs from ten games with a poor average of 18.4 and a strike rate of 126.89.