IPL: Why Mumbai Indians are struggling this year...

'They need to start getting their batting right. Rohit, for me, needs to bat at number three, if he is not opening, and not lower than that.'

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar blamed the Mumbai Indians' middle order for the defending champions' poor show in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Mumbai Indians are languishing bottom in the IPL standings, with just two wins from eight games.

"Their bowling attack is quite potent, (but) they haven't again delivered. Their batting has kind of let them down - their middle order. They just somehow have missed the important moments in a game and have probably let themselves down," Agarkar said on Friday.

Agarkar also emphasised that MI should re-look at their batting order. He also captain Rohit Sharma to open the innings or bat at No. 3.

"They need to start getting their batting right. Rohit, for me, needs to bat at number three, if he is not opening, and not lower than that.

"They need Rohit to play well and others have to chip in. Suryakumar Yadav has been good for them. Apart from that, they haven't had too many match-winners in their batting, which is bit of worry," added Agarkar, who played 191 ODIs for India.

Saying MI would be disappointed with West Indian Kieron Pollard's poor form, Agarkar feels the all-rounder lacks confidence.

"More than me Mumbai Indians are disappointed. They obviously trust him (Pollard) a lot, rely on him a lot, so they want him in good form. He is in bad form, the confidence is not there. They depend a lot on his power at the end of the innings and it has not happened this year."

The former pacer also raised doubts whether MI can make a turnaround like past seasons.

"It's been one of those seasons, T20s you can have a tough season, especially the first two games were very close. Sometimes when you don't get victories, it makes life difficult.

"Before (in earlier editions) they have started slowly, not as slow as this year, then caught up. Whether they can do it, I have my doubts this year but mathematically they have a chance, so you can't rule them out," he said.

Former India bowlers Venkatapathy Raju, Irfan Pathan and even Australian James Faulkner have rated Sunrisers Hyderabad's bowling attack as the strongest this season and Agarkar also agrees with them.

"Sunrisers at the moment looks the strongest, (because) not only they are defending runs, but in spite of losing Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Billy Stanlake, two important bowlers, they have managed to get two new bowlers in and still been as difficult to score off," Agarkar reasoned.

Agarkar is also impressed with the Under-19 cricketers including the likes of Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw, who have put in some impressive performances in this year's IPL.

"Very impressed, Shivam Mavi, even Avesh Khan - those guys look very impressive and with experience they will get better. Even the batsmen, someone like a Prithvi Shaw, or last night we saw Shubman Gill, they look confident and all of them have good temperament, which is good sign," he said.

Finally, he turned his attention to Chennai Super Kings saying that their bowling looks weak and the absence of pacer Deepak Chahar is hurting them.

"They are missing him (Chahar) because sometimes when you have something that is working and when you have an injury, it is always difficult."

"The bigger worry is that (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni has relied on (Dwayne) Bravo to finish the innings for him, but he has been a little bit off-colour this year. If he gets back to form it will help them. Chahar was bowling well with the new ball, so hopefully he comes back quickly," Agarkar pointed out.