Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma blamed some irresponsible shots by his batters for their failure to take advantage of restricting Lucknow Super Giants to 168/6 in 20 overs and registering their first win in IPL 2022.
Chasing 169 for a win, Mumbai Indians were in a good position after the powerplay and despite losing Ishan Kishan, had Rohit Sharma batting well and their in-form batter Suryakumar Yadav in the middle. But Rohit got out from an unnecessary shot and Suryakumar Yadav too fell in a similar fashion. Tilak Varma and Kieron Pollard raised their hopes with a 57-run partnership off 39 deliveries but both got out at the most inappropriate time for Mumbai Indians and their hopes fizzled out in a 36-run defeat.
“I thought we bowled pretty okay. It was a good pitch to bat on but we didn’t bat well enough. We should have chased that down. When you have a target like that, you need those partnerships, which we couldn’t do. Some irresponsible shots including mine,” said Rohit during the post-game presentation on Sunday.
He said LSG bowled well but his batters failed to click once again.
“They bowled well in the middle. We haven’t batted well in the tournament. You have to ensure one of the batters bats long but we have failed to do that in this tournament. Some of the opposition players have done that and that has hurt us,” Rohit added.
Asked whether players like Tim David were discussed for selection now that Mumbai’s hopes are virtually over, Rohit said they want to give those in the playing XI enough opportunities.
“Looking at how the tournament has gone everyone has come into the discussion. We want to make sure whoever gets a chance, they get a run in the XI. So we try not to make too many changes. Whoever plays should get enough opportunities, that’s how I look at it,” he said.
(Inputs from IANS)