Rohit Sharma speaks to Mumbai team to boost its Ranji Trophy form

India opener Rohit Sharma on Tuesday came up with pep talk for his domestic team Mumbai which has been struggling in the ongoing Ranji Trophy with two back-to-back defeats at home. While the 41-time champions were thumped by 10 wickets by Railways at the Wankhede Stadium earlier, they were beaten by Karnataka by five wickets at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) Ground last Sunday. With one win from three outings, the domestic giants were lagging at No.13 in the Cross Pool League (combined A and B groups) out of 18 teams. Only five teams will make it to the knockouts.

Rohit, who is India’s vice-captain in the limited-over formats and has made a mark as the stand-in skipper whenever Virat Kohli has taken a leave, spoke to the Mumbai side on ways to overcome their current ordeal, India.com cited agencies as quoting a source who was present on the occasion. Rohit spoke to the Ranji side at the BKC facility. Mumbai coach Vinayak Samant, bowling coach Pradeep Sundaram and team manager Ajinkya Naik were also present.

Rohit, who averages over 56 in first-class cricket and has been rested for the current T20I series against Sri Lanka, was present at the venue on the second day of the Mumbai-Karnataka clash for some time. The ace batsman, who also made a thumping impact in the Test series against South Africa last year at home, comes to the BKC facility for practice.

Mumbai to play TN next

Mumbai, who last won the coveted trophy in 2015-16, will next meet Tamil Nadu in an away game in Chennai from January 11. TN are yet to win a game and are placed three places below Mumbai in the points table. Captain Suryakumar Yadav, who is going to New Zealand with India ‘A’ squad, will not be available for the Tamil Nadu match.

Rohit’s next big test as a Test opener will be in New Zealand where India will play two matches in February-March. “New Zealand is not the easiest place to play cricket. Last time, we lost the Test series (0-1) but we gave a good fight. But this bowling attack of ours is completely different from what we had back then,” he was quoted as saying.

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