While former India skipper Rohit Sharma has retired from T20I cricket, he continues to be a pivotal cog in the Mumbai Indians (MI) side ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League. (IPL 2026) season. With the date for the new season approaching, speculations remain on what the exact role of The Hitman will be.
Last year, the explosive opener was mostly used as an Impact player instead of featuring in the entire game. However, ahead of IPL 2026, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene has given an idea of how the management plans on using Rohit Sharma.
Speaking at a media event called ‘Charcha with Mahela’, the veteran Sri Lankan was quoted as saying when quizzed about Rohit’s role,
“Rohit Sharma had a few minor fitness concerns last year, so his workload needed careful management. Despite that, he continued to make a big impact on the team, whether on the field or off it. The focus this season is to keep him on the field as much as possible, while making decisions based on team balance and match situations.”
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Rohit Sharma is currently active in just the ODI format and played in the IND vs NZ ODI series at the start of this year where he scored 61 runs in three games at an average of 20.33. Prior to that, during the Proteas series late last year, Rohit impressed with 146 runs in three games including two fifties.
The 38-year-old also featured in domestic cricket, playing a couple of games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT 2025-26) and registered a ton to his name.
Speaking about Rohit’s numbers from the previous IPL season, although he made a slow start to the tournament, he finished strongly with four scores of 50 or more and also crossed the milestone of 7,000 runs in IPL, becoming only the second player to cross the milestone after Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma scored 418 runs in 15 matches at an average of 29.86 and a strike rate of 149.29, with a highest score of 81.
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