On Rohit Sharma's Lean IPL Patch, Ex-India Star Mentions "Emotional Toll" Of Captaincy

Royal Challengers Bangalore batting coach Sanjay Bangar has backed India and Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma to come out of his current poor run of form ahead of the World Test Championship final next month. Rohit was dismissed for a mere seven -- his fifth single-digit score on the trot in this IPL -- against RCB but MI had no trouble in chasing down the target of 200 with 21 balls to spare for a six-wicket win here on Tuesday.

Rohit has been enduring a second consecutive poor IPL season with the bat, as his average plummeted to 17.36 with just 191 runs to show from 11 matches so far.

The world No. 1 India will face Australia in the WTC final at The Oval in London from June 7-11.

"He (Rohit) has been playing for such a long period of time and captaining in all formats for India and the franchisee as well, it does take an emotional toll. It is mentally taxing as well," Bangar told reporters at the post-match conference when asked about Rohit's woeful run of form.

"But he knows it, he has done it for such a long time. For the sake of Mumbai Indians and for the sake of Indian cricket, we just hope that he returns to his run-scoring normal routine.

"It is very important for us (India) that he fires and does really well in the World Test Championship final.” Bangar, however, said he has not much input to give on Rohit's form because the only games he had seen were in the context of how the IPL has gone and how he has been dismissed.

"The time and energy a captain has to spend towards planning and strategy for a team in a tough tournament like the IPL might also have a little bit of an effect on Rohit's batting form.

"In a tournament like IPL, the energies that a captain has to spend towards planning and strategy also may