Navi Mumbai, Apr 22: Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene has backed out-of-form openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, saying a turn around is certainly possible and he would be concerned only if the duo was not hitting the ball well.
Rohit Sharma hasn’t been his usual self, the destructive batter that used to pummel the opposition attacks to submission.
Rohit, who could not open his account against CSK on Thursday night, has managed only 114 runs from seven innings this season.
“It has been up and down. To be honest, Ishan batted really well in the first couple of games, and then a bit of a slide. Ro (Rohit) has been hitting the ball really well, he gets good starts, 15-20 runs, looking good and then not being able to convert,” Jayawardene said after his team went down by three-wickets to Chennai Super Kings.
Ditto has been the case of Ishan Kishan, whom Mumbai bought for Rs 15.25 crore, making him the highest buy of this year’s auction.
But the left-handed batter, who also perished on zero against CSK, has managed only 191 runs from seven games.
“When that happens, and when you get out early, you feel that nothing is going your way. I have been a batsman (and) that is part and parcel but I will be concerned if they are not hitting the ball well or if they don’t have that confidence, but both of them have been batting well out there in the middle as well in the nets,” added the former Sri Lankan batting great.
He said it was necessary to back their abilities and if the two work hard and go through the processes, a turnaround was on the cards.
“You need to back the ability, the confidence, these are the guys who have played a lot of IPL cricket, understand what needs to be done and just need to get in, work hard, go through the process and it will turn around,” the Mumbai Indians coach added.
Mumbai are winless this season so far, having suffered seven defeats on the trot. (agencies)
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