Sunil Gavaskar. (Photo source: X(Twitter)
The 2024 season of IPL turned out to be a forgettable one for five-time champions Mumbai Indians as they became the first team to bow out of the T20 league. However, the bigger picture stands ahead and that is the T20 World Cup, commencing June 2, jointly hosted by the West Indies and the USA.
Ahead of the ICC event, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar added that it would be great to see India skipper Rohit Sharma bat the way he has in the past. Gavaskar added that with Rohit giving the team a good start, lower-order batters can come and do their job easily.
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports Cricket Live, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar shared his thoughts on Rohit Sharma’s innings and its significance for the upcoming World Cup, “Well, that was such a nice thing to see. Look, we know that Mumbai Indians can’t qualify, but to see Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain for the T20 World Cup starting in about 15 days’ time, batting the way that he has, it’s very heartening. That’s exactly what you want. You want Rohit Sharma to be setting the team off to a good start, so that the lower-order batters can come in and finish it off, potentially getting 200-plus every time they play.”
Matthew Hayden shared his thoughts on what he expects from MSD in the game versus RCB. ‘MS Dhoni, he may get 15 runs. But I want to see 18 runs off the last two overs. Just play one or two balls and then go to school on those RCB bowlers. I’m talking nothing less than maximums for MS Dhoni at the end. Something that statically he’s been doing very well in this IPL.”
Hayden shared his thoughts on how the Mumbai Indians roster performed this season, “Yeah, there’s never a question of how Mumbai go about picking their talent and their roster. This year, they didn’t have a great deal of luck with their fast bowlers. You know, when you think of Jason Behrendorff, he was a big loss coming into the start of the IPL. Simple as that. And, you know, of course, Hardik himself hasn’t had the best of seasons. We’re seeing some glimpses of the future for Mumbai Indians going into next year’s auction.
But for Mumbai Indians, IPL titles are always taken out by your successful leaders—your Rohit Sharmas, your Hardik Pandyas. In fact, the Pandya brothers have been integral over the years, haven’t they? Your Jasprit Bumrahs, etc. It’s the top players that win these tournaments. And this year, for whatever reason, Sunny G just mentioned a few there before, my personal opinion with Hardik as well is that he potentially hasn’t quite had the clarity in his batting. We saw the Gujarat Titans team place him at number four where he did a wonderful job. This year, the clarity wasn’t there when he was batting down the order.”
Sunil Gavaskar shared his thoughts on what RCB’s mentality will be in the final match of the league stages against CSK. “I think a great finish would be to win by a huge margin. So there’s actually no tension that they have to win in it in 18 overs, or with less than 18 runs, or whatever the calculations are. So just win comfortably. Which you know, is a confidence boost for the playoffs. You squeeze through, and there’s a sense of relief. But what happens then in a sports person’s mind is when you squeeze through with just a little bit, then there’s a sense of relief that is sometimes so overwhelming that it actually takes away from your commitment for the next game. So often we’ve seen, in tennis, for example, people are 40-love down and they suddenly get to 40 all, no problem. And then next thing you know, they’ve lost the next two points.”