Rohit Sharma has been under scrutiny for his poor form in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and his struggles so far in 2025 are consistent with a downward trend in the competition over the past three years.
The former Mumbai Indians captain, who still leads India’s white-ball teams, has scored 82 runs in six innings at an average of 13.66.
The opener’s 26 from 16 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday was his highest score this season, and with three sixes he showed some glimpses of a return to form before another soft dismissal off Pat Cummins.
“He’s finding it very hard to be consistent,” former IPL batter Abhishek Jhunjhunwala told BBC Sport.
Rohit’s run drought has also mirrored his own team’s form, as Mumbai have struggled to find a consistent winning combination – they are seventh in the table with three wins from seven.
However, this is unique to Rohit in the IPL specifically as he is still having plenty of success internationally with a T20 World Cup win in 2024 and the Champions Trophy title last month.
He is also a Mumbai legend having led them to five titles in 11 years as captain, while he is set to have a stand named after him at the iconic Wankhede stadium.
But with that success and status comes immense expectation. BBC Sport and CricViz data analyst Soham Sarkhel have looked at the numbers behind Rohit’s decline, and what he and Mumbai could do next.
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Rohit’s average in the IPL is 29.30, but since 2022 he averages 22.89 at the top of the order. That is the second-lowest of the 21 openers to play 20-plus innings.
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He averages 13.66 in six matches this season – and it is 12.89 if you add the final three games of 2024.
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His form in T20 internationals hasn’t declined in the same way. Since the start of 2022 he averages 29.34 in T20Is compared to 22.89 in the IPL as an opener.
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Rohit’s best returns in the IPL have come at five (average of 33.11) and four. (average of 32.7). That drops to 27.74 as an opener, with him only averaging more than 30 in 2016 and 2024 (min five innings).
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Against pace in the six-over powerplay his average has dropped from 36.47 to 24.39 since 2022.
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He has only survived past the powerplay in 12 of his 36 IPL innings since the start of 2023 and is yet to bat outside the powerplay this year.
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The right-hander used to be a ‘balanced’ player with 51% of runs in that phase scored on the leg side, but that has climbed to 59%.
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That could contribute to a decline in his numbers against outswinging deliveries and a rise against inswingers. Before 2022 he averaged 27 against inswingers and close to 50 against outswingers but since then, those numbers are 44 and 19.
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He used to average 63 against outswingers from right-arm pacers in the powerplay, now it is 16.
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Between 2014 and 2021 Rohit was out seven times to left-arm seamers and averaged 28.85. Since 2022 he has been dismissed eight times and averages 22.37. It equates for 24% of the balls he has faced too, up from 13%.
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Rohit is also struggling against spin. He averages 15.33 since 2022, down from 34.68.
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There is a particular weakness against leg-spin, which he averages 7.88 against since 2022.
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The sweep shot is also getting him into trouble. He used it just 7% of the time between 2014 and 2021 and was out eight times. That was climbed to 21% of deliveries since 2022 and he has been dismissed six times, at an average of 15.5.
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That’s a trend in all formats with Rohit’s last 30 sweep shots across all formats seeing him dismissed seven times, at an average of seven.
Mumbai’s most recent IPL title came in 2020, having also won the previous year, and Rohit was replaced as skipper by Hardik Pandya in 2024 – but in the all-rounder’s first edition in charge, they finished bottom of the table.
Rohit’s legendary status with the side is likely to earn him a longer run in order to solve his personal batting problems, but it could present the Mumbai hierarchy with a brave call to make if he cannot regain form – and if the team maintains its inconsistency, too.
“There is a lot of pressure on him, especially when he’s playing for India,” Jhunjhunwala added.
“In the IPL, they are ruthless as we’ve seen with so many players, and we’ve seen that with Mumbai Indians.
“There will be patience with him, especially at Mumbai, because he’s done brilliantly for them over the years.
“He’s still got it. I just feel that he’s maybe lost a bit of hand-eye coordination and that can happen, but your career can really go down quite quickly. He’s got to work on a lot of things, especially his fitness.”
Former England bowler Tymal Mills, who played with Rohit at Mumbai in 2022, also backed him to rediscover his best form and described him as “a nightmare for bowlers” when in full flow.
“He’s one of the most experienced players in the world, he has been there and done it at the highest level for a very long time,” Mills told BBC Sport.
“He will stick to his processes, he will hit a lot of balls. You’ll always see him going to training early and getting his extra work done before everyone else arrives.
“When you have played as long as Rohit has, you’re going to go through bad spells. Players of his class always re-emerge.
“He has earned the right to get a long leash because he’s had such a successful career and been a nightmare for bowlers.”
Mills also questioned whether being the impact sub – which Rohit has been in five of his six games, including three times when batting second – was a “hindrance” because it could “take you a bit longer to get into the game”.
