T20 World Cup 2024: Shane Watson delivers a no-nonsense verdict on Rohit Sharma's form

Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson heaped a lot of praise on Indian captain Rohit Sharma for the latter's sensation knock during MI's loss to LSG. 

The Mumbai Indians welcomed Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede stadium last night for both of the team's final IPL 2024 league games. MI had already been knocked out of the tournament and they stepped down to the field last night to finish their season on a high with a victory. However, fate had decided something else for Hardik Pandya's side. 

KL Rahul's side, which did not qualify for the playoffs for the first time since their introduction, had posted a 200+ target in front of Mumbai's lethal batters. Former MI skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front and played perhaps his best knock of the IPL 2024 season. Many even considered his half-century as his last wearing the blue Mumbai jersey. 

What did Shane Watson say about Rohit Sharma's fiery knock? 

While speaking to Jio Cinema after Mumbai Indians' loss, Shane Watson had high praise for Rohit Sharma. The Australian World Cup winner claimed that the 68-run knock was a huge "confidence booster" for Rohit as he was going through a lean patch throughout the season. 

In some matches, Rohit Sharma failed to capitalize on his starts but in some matches, he didn't start at all. In that context, Shane Watson explained that Rohit knew he had to do something special to get over his "dry spell" from the previous 6 innings.

And thus to come out with all guns blazing and playing with so much freedom must have given him the push he needed. 

"It’s a big confidence booster for Rohit Sharma for sure. He batted very nicely tonight knowing that he had a little bit of a dry spell in the previous 6 innings. So if he will be able to come out and have this freedom but also not pre-meditating as much as he had in the previous innings." - Shane Watson said via Jio Cinema. 

Rohit Sharma had come to open the innings with Dewald Brevis and got MI off to a flyer. Following a short break due to rain, the Indian captain continued to charge in against the LSG bowlers, scoring a quickfire half-century before leaving the crease for 68 off 38 at a daunting 178 strike rate. 

Middle-order failure led to MI's loss 

Rohit's brutal knock included 10 fours and 3 sixes and his knock had put MI in the driver's seat but the following batters eventually helped LSG get ahead in the game. The top and middle-order of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, and Nehal Wadhera shared only 31 runs between them.

It was in those middle overs that MI fell behind in the race after a lightning-fast start. If Mumbai was able to put 192 runs on the board, then it was because of lower-order batter Naman Dhir's 221 strike rated 62 off just 28 balls. The batting all-rounder had kept MI very much in the game and if the middle-order had scored 10-15 runs more, then the situation would have been different.