It’s already time for him to retire

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag expressed frustration over veteran batter Rohit Sharma’s poor performance in the 2025 IPL season. Sehwag’s remarks about Rohit came before the Mumbai Indians (MI) played the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Wankhede Stadium on April 17.

Entering the SRH encounter, Rohit had scored just 56 runs in five innings at an average of 10.20. The 37-year-old did not help his cause by enduring another subpar outing against SRH.

After a sparkling start with three maximums in his first 15 deliveries, Rohit fell for a 16-ball 26 in MI’s successful run-chase of 163.

Talking about Rohit’s form on Cricbuzz ahead of the MI-SRH clash, Sehwag said (Via Hindustan Times):

“It’s already time for him to retire, and before retiring, you would want to give fans something to remember you by, and not moments that force them to think, why are they not dropping him. If you look at Rohit’s IPL numbers in the last 10 years, he scored more than 400 runs only once. So he is not the kind of player who thinks that I need to score 500 or 700 runs. If he thinks, he might.”

He continued:

“When he became the Indian captain, he said that he wanted to be the player who wants to cash in on the powerplay and take the chances, so he wanted to make all the sacrifices alone, but he is not considering the fact that at the end of the day when he is not performing, it is your legacy that is getting hurt.”

Despite being among the most accomplished white-ball batters of the generation, Rohit has struggled in the IPL over the past few years. The former MI captain has scored over 400 runs in a season only twice in the last eight editions.

“There should be someone telling him to play normal cricket” – Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag urged someone from the MI dressing room to talk to Rohit Sharma and ask him to take a few balls to settle into his innings. The champion batter has not averaged above 35 in an IPL season since 2016. His average in the ongoing IPL season is 13.66 in six outings.

“Take 10 balls extra, but at least play and give yourself a chance. He has been getting out to that pull shot many times against the back of the length deliveries. So he should decide that in one innings he will not play the pull shot at all. But who will explain it to him? There should be someone telling him to play normal cricket. When I was there, Sachin, Dravid or Ganguly used to tell me to play normal cricket,” said Sehwag (Via aforementioned source).

Despite Rohit’s continued struggles, MI have won their last two matches after losing four out of their first five games. With three wins in seven outings, they are placed seventh on the IPL 2025 points table.

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Venkatesh has been writing cricket news, listicle and feature articles for Sportskeeda for over a year. He loves cricket because of the diversity of the playing fields and its unparalleled nuances, which no other sport presents. He also enjoys the analytical and quantitative side of the sport, which originates from his MBA degree and 10 years of experience in the IT industry in companies like Infosys, Atos and TCS.

Venkatesh ensures proper research from reliable sources and social media trends to gather information, and adds his own dash of creativity to create insightful content.

He started watching cricket in the late 1990s, having been impressed with South Africa and New Zealand’s gentleman-like attitude. Domestically, he supports the Chennai Super Kings for their ability to bring the best out of their players owing to a friendly and conducive team environment.

He admires three cricketers the most – Brian Lara for his batting style, AB de Villiers for changing the paradigm of batting and MS Dhoni for his unique cerebral approach to field placings and batting. Along with cricket, Venkatesh also enjoys watching and playing tennis and basketball. In his free time, he finds pleasure in singing and watching movies and web series.

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Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran