Rohit Sharma being made Impact Player could be a ‘hindrance’ to him regaining form, says former MI teammate

After a dreadful run in Test whites in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to start the year and an average, at best, performance in India’s Champions Trophy-winning campaign, Rohit Sharma’s batting form has shown no signs of improvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL) so far.
A high score of 26, and failure to even bat outside the powerplay in any of his six innings has caused debate about the India captain’s place in the Mumbai Indians lineup. The conjecture about his place in the Test lineup, where he is presently expected to lead India for a five-match series in England in June, has also caught pace.
But his former teammate at the Mumbai franchise, former England fast bowler Tymal Mills, has backed Rohit to come back to form sooner rather than later. In his reasoning for why Rohit is not able to snap himself back into form, Mills has said that him constantly playing as the Impact Player may be detrimental to India’s Test captain.
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While speaking to the BBC, Mills said Rohit being the Impact Sub, which he has been in six of his seven games, including four times when batting second, can be a “hindrance” because it could “take you a bit longer to get into the game”.
Mills had full confidence in his former captain though. “He’s one of the most experienced players in the world, he has been there and done it at the highest level for a very long time,” he said. “He will stick to his processes, he will hit a lot of balls. You’ll always see him going to training early and getting his extra work done before everyone else arrives.”
“When you have played as long as Rohit has, you’re going to go through bad spells. Players of his class always re-emerge. He has earned the right to get a long leash because he’s had such a successful career and been a nightmare for bowlers,” Mills added.