New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI) Rohit Sharma is an “absolute superstar” who is just one decent knock of 40 runs away from finding his mojo back, feels World Cup winning former Australian skipper Michael Clarke.

Former Mumbai Indians’ captain Rohit, who has crossed the 400 runs tally only once in the last nine years of the Indian Premier League, has failed in all four games so far in this season.

“I think Rohit’s an absolute superstar,” Clarke, an expert on JioStar said during a press conference.

“It’s just a matter of time before he makes (a) hundred. I think it’s going to take one decent innings. It might be a 40, it might be a 60.” Once Rohit gets the momentum the current phase would just pass, feels Clarke.

“He’ll get momentum and then, you know, you’ll see the best of Rohit Sharma. I wouldn’t be too concerned about his form,” he said.

“We all have high expectations of the great players because they’ve been so successful over a long period of time that, yeah, you’re allowed to miss out on a couple of games. But class is permanent.” Can Rahane make it to England? ======================= While Clarke is big fan of Ajinkya Rahane’s batting, he wasn’t sure whether Indian selectors would pick him for England tour based on T20 form.

“Look, to me, I think it really depends. You like to see players in form. But your role in your IPL franchise might be different to your role when you’re playing for India.

“I don’t know who they’ll select on their Test (tour) in England or in the shorter formats.” But Rahane being 36 shouldn’t be a problem, said Clarke.

“I don’t really care too much about age. If you’re good enough at 16 or you’re good enough at 35, then runs as a batsman and wickets as a bowler is what is important,” he said.

“If you’re performing well enough, then you earn selection. I don’t really care about age. But it really just depends on what the Indian cricket team is thinking for…” “If they were to go back to Jinks, where he would bat, what role he would play in that team. He’s still a super classy player that I love seeing do well.” Has CSK not been able to cope with changing times in T20? =========================================== Clarke also believes that T20 cricket hasn’t changed too much that CSK won’t be able to cope up and team needs to be given respect for their five trophies.

“They’re just not winning at the moment. I don’t think it’s about individuals. I don’t think it’s about style of play. I just think that’s cricket. And certainly in this format, momentum is so important.” Clarke added that teams can also pick momentum at the back end.

“We’ve seen over the years that a number of teams have started slow and then they get their first, second, third win and build that momentum,” he said.

“(Once) you make it into the playoffs, then any team can win. I wouldn’t be writing Chennai off just yet, they deserve to be respected.” But hasn’t the pace of the game changed? “What do you mean the pace has changed? It’s changed from 2024 to 2025. I don’t think it has,” he said.

“Or (from) 2023 or 2022. I don’t think… they’ve got enough players to do what these other teams are doing. If we’re talking about the batting in the power play or wickets through the middle or wickets at the end, they’re probably not at their most confident because they haven’t got any victories.” “They haven’t been winning games at the start of the season like they’re accustomed to. Once they get a couple of wins under that belt, you’ll see they’ll be more confident, more aggressive in the powerplay,” he said. PTI KHS DDV