IPL 2019 | We played good cricket throughout this season, says Rohit Sharma

Mumbai Indians won nine out of 14 matches in the league stage of this season of Indian Premier League and even ended up as the table toppers due to a superior run rate. They also won both of their playoff games against Chennai Super Kings. Apart from the usual culprits, most of the players in the squad got a chance to prove their credentials. Even players like Mayank Markande, Rasikh Salam, Anukul Roy, Jayant Yadav and Siddhesh Lad among others got one game at least and thereby, the skipper Rohit Sharma did not fail to credit the entire squad.

Krunal Pandya and Lasith Malinga were taken to the cleaners but both returned with one wicket each. The Sri Lankan ‘slinger’ bowled the final over from which nine runs were required. There was a lot of drama as Shane Watson was run out in for 80 but Malinga did not give a single boundary and even dismissed Shardul Thakur when two runs were required off the penultimate ball. The skipper did not have any complaints with the bowlers and even singled out the Sri Lankan skipper for his final over exploits.

“Malinga is a champion, he has been doing it for many years for us. I was thinking of Hardik (Pandya) for the final over, but I wanted to back someone who has been in that situation for us before, and Malinga has been there many times,” he added.

Various players from the Mumbai camp have stepped up at different stages throughout the tournament. Bumrah, Malinga and Chahar scalped 19, 16 and 13 wickets respectively while Quinton de Kock ended up with the highest 529 runs. Suryakumar Yadav followed with 424 runs and Kieron Pollard blasted 279 runs at a strike rate of 156.77. However, Hardik Pandya was the standout performer as he amassed 402 runs at an astounding strike rate of 191.42 and also had 14 wickets to his name. The skipper was all praise for his team.