'Bowlers let Mumbai down' - England legend comes in support of Rohit Sharma's captaincy

Nothing seems to be going right for Mumbai in the Indian T20 league 2022 so far. They have lost their first five games, and are still searching for their first win of this edition. Thus, the five-time champions are currently languishing at the bottom of the points table as well. It seems really difficult for Mumbai to make it to the playoffs this time around.

They lost to Punjab by 12 runs on Thursday. The current form of the Mumbai-based franchise has led to several people criticizing their captain Rohit Sharma. Experts have lashed out at his leadership tactics. However, Graeme Swann has come in support of the "Hitman".

He felt that it isn't appropriate to blame Sharma. According to Swann, Mumbai's bowlers were below-par. While speaking to Star Sports, he said that their bowlers were low in confidence.

“I am not happy that Rohit Sharma’s captaincy is questioned here, at all (97-run opening stand and Punjab scoring 198). I think the bowlers are low on confidence. There is a massive difference between a captain who can throw the ball to his bowlers, who can absolutely hit a length,” said Graeme Swann.

It is to be noted that Jasprit Bumrah was the only Mumbai bowler who bowled at an economy rate of less than eight on Wednesday. Thus, Swann also said that Mumbai's bowlers leaked a lot of runs before Bumrah came to bowl. Hence, the Englishman felt that people shouldn't criticize Sharma's captaincy.

“Until Jasprit Bumrah came on and bowled a brilliant spell in the middle overs, the Mumbai bowlers were well below-par. So do not, for one second, start thinking it’s Rohit’s fault. Everybody he turned to bowled badly in the first 10 overs. That’s how it is,” he added. Mumbai's bowlers gave 198 in the first innings. Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan got to their respective half-centuries. During the second innings, Mumbai were only able to score 186 and thus, fell short of their target by 12 runs.