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Rohit Sharma provided an update on his fitness after the Mumbai Indians lost to Delhi Capitals by six wickets on Tuesday. The MI captain, who was absent on the field for a while, expects to be fit for his team’s next IPL 2021 clash.
During the 33-year-old's absence, Kieron Pollard assumed MI's captaincy responsibilities.
In a post-match interaction with Danny Morrison, Rohit Sharma was asked if he left the field because of cramps or tight hamstrings. Although the MI captain didn’t reveal the details of his injury, Rohit Sharma assured that it was nothing serious, saying:
“No, it is absolutely fine (showing a thumbs up to the camera). It is just a small niggle, it should be okay,” he assured.
Earlier in the game, Rohit Sharma scored a well-made 44, his highest score in IPL 2021. But the captain's effort went in vain, as the Mumbai Indians failed to make the most of their solid start - MI were 55-1 after the powerplay - but limped to 137-9.
As has been the case all too often in IPL 2021, MI lost their way on the slow Chepauk track, slumping from 67-1 to 84-6. Eventually, MI's total of 137-9 proved inadequate, as the Delhi Capitals won with five balls to spare.
Reflecting on his team's batting collapse, Rohit Sharma rued MI's failure to take advantage of a strong powerplay, saying:
“Yeah absolutely (should have batted better). After the start we got, we could have batted very well in the middle overs, which we didn’t do. That’s something we need to focus on. It’s been happening time and again. We have just not been able to capitalise on the start we are getting in the powerplay. It is something we need to understand as a batting unit."
The Delhi Capitals bowlers showed great guile to stop the flow of runs after a poor powerplay showing. Amit Mishra was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of 4-24. He got support on the night from Avesh Khan and Lalit Yadav, and Rohit Sharma was quick to praise the opposition while addressing MI’s batting struggles.
“You have to give credit to the Delhi bowlers. They kept us tight in the middle, kept that pressure going and kept taking wickets,” Rohit Sharma said.
Dew wasn't the reason for our defeat, says Rohit Sharma
Dew seemed to play a big role during the second innings of the game, which prompted the umpires to change the ball midway through the innings.
Delhi Capitals became just the second team to win in Chennai while chasing this season, but Rohit Sharma was in no mood to blame the dew for the result.
“We knew that dew was going to come in. We have seen in the last few games; it is not that difficult to grip the ball. We still saw some turn in the middle-overs. Dew is really not the factor. If you want to win games, you have to play smart cricket to win games, which we didn’t do today,” concluded Rohit Sharma.
The defeat leaves the Mumbai Indians fourth in the IPL points table 2021. The five-time champions will play their last game in Chennai, where they'll take on the Punjab Kings on April 23 (Friday).
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