IPL 2023: Rohit Sharma may skip games for Mumbai Indians, India player to lead MI in his absence

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma may miss a few IPL games this season to manage his workload, according to reports.

The IPL is set to start on March 31 and will continue till May 28. As the tournament will be followed by some important international encounters, BCCI has strictly directed the franchises to not overplay some of the key members of the Indian team.

Rohit Sharma, being the captain of Team India, will be one of those marked players, and he may have to sit out some games for Mumbai Indians during the course of the season. According to reports of Indian Express, the MI captain will not play a few games to get adequate rest and escape injury.

India have the World Test Championship final just after the IPL concludes and then the busy schedule will finish with the World Cup in October-November. Indian team are already marred with injuries as Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah all are suffering with various issues. Fresh injuries from IPL will be a massive blow and BCCI doesn't want any further dent in that.

The franchises are thus told by BCCI to manage the workload of some of the designated players and NCA staff will be monitoring the players during the course of IPL.

And in that case, Suryakumar Yadav will be leading the Mumbai Indians. The top-notch batter has become an integral part of the Paltans and will be captaining the side in absence of Rohit Sharma. Although it is confirmed Sharma will travel with the team even though he is not playing.

"It's all up to the franchises now. They own them now. We have given some indications to the teams, but at the end of the day, it's up to the franchises. And more importantly, it's up to the players," the Indian captain said recently when asked about the workload management in IPL.

"They are all adults; they have to look after their bodies. If they feel it's getting a bit too much, they can talk about it and take a break in one or two games," he added.

Mumbai Indians will be starting their IPL campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 2. Rohit Sharma is expected to lead the line in the match though as the MI will be eyeing to emulate their women's team, who recently won the inaugural Women's Premier League.

Various other players like Virat Kohli (RCB), Ravindra Jadeja (CSK), Mohammed Siraj (RCB) are expected to follow the same pattern and take sporadic breaks across the tournament. It is to be seen how things pan out for the key Indian players in this upcoming IPL.