IPL 2023: Rohit Sharma misses captains’ meet due to illness

Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma was forced to miss the pre-IPL captains’ meet and the customary photo shoot on Thursday, March 30 as he is unwell as per several reports.

Barring Rohit representatives from all the other nine teams had assembled at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The Indian Premier League’s official Twitter account posted pictures of the same.

The photo shoot also saw Bhuvneshwar Kumar representing Sunrisers Hyderabad. The team is without their designated skipper Aiden Markram, who is currently in South Africa due to national commitments.

As there are no confirmations regarding the availability of the Nagpur-born batter, he is likely to play in the season opener for Mumbai Indians. The match is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 2 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Suryakumar Yadav to lead Mumbai in the absence of Rohit: Reports

Recently, news related to him being rested for few games due to workload management also surfaced. The reports suggest that Suryakumar Yadav, will act as the stand-in captain in the absence of Rohit. With Mumbai Indians 2022 season being fairly poor, Rohit’s unavailability might prove to be a big blow for the Mumbai-based franchise, since he has been the captain of the franchise for over a decade now.

Speaking of Rohit’s records in IPL, he is arguably one of the best batters to have played the league. He has 5879 runs at an average of 30.30, which also includes 40 half-centuries and a solitary ton.

Along with his batting abilities, he has also been a great leader for his side. Rohit has made the franchise as the most successful one in the history of the tournament. Mumbai are already missing out on the services of Jasprit Bumrah, who is one of their strike bowlers. Now, the team’s rather inexperienced batting line-up might suffer a big blow if Rohit is not featured in the Playing XI.