Sanjay Manjrekar slams Rohit Sharma and ‘senior players’ for their batting approach ahead of IPL 2026 playoffs

Sanjay Manjrekar opined that Rohit Sharma and some other 'senior players' bat too slowly at the start of the innings, putting their respective teams under pressure.

The former India batter mentioned Rohit's knock of 25 off 26 balls in the Mumbai Indians' last game against the Punjab Kings, where the five-time champions were chasing a 201-run target. Manjrekar said that younger players do not waste too many balls at the start of the innings, thinking that they would catch up as the game goes on.

"When you bat for about 20-22 balls and score at a strike rate of 100, you actually seal the fate for your team. You put your team in a losing position, and that is something that tends to happen with senior players who’ve had tremendous success over the years," Manjrekar said on Sportstar.

"They feel that a big turning point will come during the course of the innings. You won’t have a young player hanging around for 20-25 balls at run-a-ball thinking that I’ll explode a little later. And you can see when he’s trying to up the ante, he tends to get out, so that’s why he doesn’t get the 50s and 100s," he added.

"The hundreds have stopped coming for Rohit Sharma" - Sanjay Manjrekar

Manjrekar said that Rohit has stopped piling up centuries as he did back in his younger days. The cricketer-turned-expert stated that Rohit and Virat Kohli may look good in isolation, but when they are compared with others who have batted during the power play, the story becomes different.

"The hundreds have stopped coming for Rohit Sharma, even in white-ball cricket. He had one against England, where he wanted to prove to the world that he could still get a century at the 50-over level. But to get those big 70, 80, 100 scores, you’ve got to have a lot of things going for yourself," said Manjrekar (via the aforementioned source).

"So when you look at Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli in isolation, you feel they’ve done well, but look at the others who have the same kind of opportunity batting at the top of the order in the first six overs, where you have a license to succeed," he concluded.

Rohit has performed decently overall in IPL 2026. In seven innings, he has aggregated 268 runs at an average of 38.29 and a strike rate of 164.42. On the other hand, Kohli has been in scintillating form, amassing 542 runs in 13 innings at an average of 54.20 and a strike rate of 164.75.