Should Rohit Sharma take rest in the IPL? MI head coach Mark Boucher has his say

Rohit Sharma has so far amassed only 181 runs in seven outings, with just one half-century, and the other day, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar had said that Rohit should “take a little bit of a breather”.

MI’s Rohit Sharma during a practise session ahead at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

Over the last few days, the cricketing fraternity has been divided over whether Rohit Sharma should take a break from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) in a bid to keep himself rejuvenated for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

The Mumbai Indians captain has so far amassed only 181 runs in seven outings, with just one half-century, and while interacting with the tournament broadcaster the other day, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar had said that Rohit should “take a little bit of a breather”.

But on the eve of MI’s important game against Rajasthan Royals, the team’s head coach Mark Boucher had a different take. Asked whether Rohit should take a break, the former South African international shot back, saying, “During the IPL? No, I don’t think he should take rest.”

However, he paused and then continued, “But then, it’s not my call to make. Obviously, we want him to play because he is a very good player. He is a leader as well. But if it is best for Rohit and if he comes up to me and says that he needs some sort of break, then we will address that. I will consider that. He hasn’t done that yet, so at the moment, if he is available to play, then he will play,” Boucher said.

Jofra went to Belgium for a day for a ‘minor surgery’

The coach also confirmed that Jofra Archer, who recently went to Belgium for a ‘minor surgery’, will be available for selection against Royals. The England media had earlier reported about Archer’s travel to Belgium in the middle of the IPL, but Archer took to social media, calling those reports ‘crazy’. However, the Mumbai Indians head coach confirmed the development. “Yes, (he went to Belgium) for a surgery, maybe for a day. It was a minor surgery,” Boucher said.

He also hoped that with Archer back in the scheme of things, he will be able to fix Mumbai Indians’ dismal bowling show in the death overs. The team leaked 96 runs in the last 30 balls to allow Punjab Kings to clinch the game at the Wankhede Stadium last weekend, and that was not enough. Mumbai Indians conceded 70 runs off the last 24 balls against defending champion Gujarat Titans.

“The first game, if we look at it, I think I spoke about dominating the most of it rather than in that short little period. We sort of repeated that in the second game which is something like: if it happens once it is a mistake, but if it happens twice, then it is something that we need to address. We have addressed it in meetings, there are lots of different ideas on how we are going to try and not do that again,” Boucher said.

“At the end of the day, we can talk as much as we want, but we got to go out there and actually put the talk into action and hopefully we can get that right in the next game. There is a lot of other stuff that we are doing well. We have had sides in trouble but when the game is sort of on the edge, it has tipped the opposition rather than us.”

Mumbai Indians is languishing in the eighth spot in the points table after the first half of the tournament.