Rohit Sharma’s batting position changed on Saturday against Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk at the Indian Premier League but his batting fortunes did not as he fell for a second straight duck.

Going through a poor run of form, the Mumbai Indians captain – who batted at No 3 in Chennai – fell for a third-ball duck as Deepak Chahar struck. MS Dhoni moved up to the stumps, the batter went on his knees to scoop the ball over him but instead gloved it on to his helmet and to Ravindra Jadeja at backward point.

His last four scores in the tournament now read: 3, 2, 0, 0. He also started the tournament with a 1 against RCB. Five out of his 10 innings have been single digit scores.

Batting first, MI barely had any momentum in Chennai and were restricted to 139/8. CSK then coasted to a win with six wickets and 14 balls to spare.

With his dismissal in Chennai, Rohit also went top of an unwanted chart with now the most number of ducks in the tournament’s history.

Most ducks in IPL

Player  Matches Ducks
Rohit Sharma  237 16
Sunil Narine  158 15
Mandeep Singh 111 15
Dinesh Karthik 238 15
Ambati Rayudu  198 14

While Rohit Sharma has not exactly lit up the IPL with the bat for a while now, the last couple of seasons have arguably been his poorest. While he finished 2022 with 268 runs at a sub-20 average and just over 120.00 for the strike rate, he is now heading for his worst season on the basis of average and the strike rate has remained sub-130.

Rohit did end a long wait for a 50-plus score in the tournament, when scored a first half century since 2021 earlier against Delhi Capitals. But either side of it, his struggles have been evident.

Rohit Sharma in IPL

YEAR MAT RUNS AVG SR
Career 237 6063 29.72 129.80
2023 10 184 18.40 126.90
2022 14 268 19.14 120.18
2021 13 381 29.30 127.42
2020 12 332 27.66 127.69
2019 15 405 28.92 128.57
2018 14 286 23.83 133.02
2017 17 333 23.78 121.97
2016 14 489 44.45 132.88
2015 16 482 34.42 144.74
2014 15 390 30.00 129.13
2013 19 538 38.42 131.54
2012 17 433 30.92 126.60
2011 16 372 33.81 125.25
2010 16 404 28.85 133.77
2009 16 362 27.84 114.92
2008 13 404 36.72 147.98

Here’s a look at his dismissal:

Here are some reactions to the dismissal: