Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma said that the team is staying guarded against complacency after a facile eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday that helped them go back to the top of the table. MI have won every match they have played since losing to Royal Challengers Bangalore in a Super Over on September 28.
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma has urged his teammates to not be complacent after they extended their winning streak to five matches in the ongoing Indian Premier League IPL (IPL) by thrashing Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.
Mumbai Indians’ win have mostly been dominating with them winning by 48 runs against Kings XI Punjab, 34 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad, 57 runs against Rajasthan Royals and five wickets against the Delhi Capitals who they replaced at the top of the table on Friday when they chased down the target of 149 set by KKR with more than three overs and eight wickets to spare.
“It is important for us to make sure we stay on the money. It is important to not be complacent. This tournament is very funny, can’t take the foot off the pedal at any time, we have seen how teams lose at times,” said Rohit in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“The guys are very hungry, they haven’t played cricket for six months and they want to come out here and express themselves. Guys like Krunal (Pandya) or Ishan (Kishan) have not gotten many chances and these guys are very hungry and they want to prove a point.”
On Friday, MI restricted KKR to 148/5 before chasing down the target with ease. “We were clinical with both bat and ball, the expected performance was there. Its always a challenge when you have won four out of four, how you turn up on that particular day. I thought we turned up very well, right from the start,” he said.
“It’s special to chase and win, gives us a lot of confidence. The trend in the first half of the tournament has been that teams chasing have lost games but I guess its changing now. Teams batting second will miss of the games in the second half I feel.”
Registering the sixth win of the season in just their eighth match so far, Mumbai reclaimed the top spot. They haven’t lost any contest ever since the super-over defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Mumbai Indians came all guns blazing against a confused KKR team, which abruptly had a chance in captaincy hours ahead of the match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Mumbai bowlers restricted KKR to a moderate 148 for five wickets in 20 overs, before wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock’s unbeaten 78 guided the four times champions home with 19 balls to spare. Mumbai ended up with 149 for two wickets in 16.5 overs.