IPL 2021 | Needed this win badly after a couple of losses, admits Rohit Sharma
Rohit spoke of his team's ability to adapt well to conditions in Delhi
|IPLT20
Following a thorough win over Rajasthan, Rohit Sharma has admitted that his side needed this win badly in the tournament after facing a mid-season crisis with two straight losses. Rohit also added that it was important for MI to adapt to the conditions in Delhi, which they did pretty well.
After running away with the title last year, a lot was expected from the Mumbai Indians, especially considering that they had all their aspects locked in. However, the start of the competition began on a horrific note, with the five-time IPL winners only managing to pick up two wins on the road in Chennai. Starting their Delhi leg, against Rajasthan, Mumbai put on an amazing all-round show.Â
To begin with, they restricted Rajasthanâs batting order to just 171 after their openers gave them a blistering start. During the run-chase, even after Rohitâs early dismissal, Quinton de Kock and Krunal Pandya ensured that there were no major hiccups, as they chased the total down in 18.3 overs. In the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma admitted that his side needed this win badly after a couple of losses to top off the Chennai leg.Â
âAbsolutely brilliant, we needed this win badly after a couple of losses, we did pretty much everything right, from ball one, very clinical towards the end as well. This is something that was required, we took the responsibility, good to see a complete team effort. We were positive about coming to Delhi, knew this was a good pitch, not like Chennai (laughs), we have played a lot of games and we do understand the conditions here,â Rohit said in the post-match presentation.Â
In particular, Rohit credited the bowling attack, who brought on their âAâ game in the death overs, conceding just 45 runs in the last five overs, after Rajasthan were on 91/2 at the halfway stage. The opener also insisted that the conditions in Delhi allowed the Mumbai batsmen to be more expressive than the Chennai one.Â
âA good pitch, small boundaries, you always back yourself to do well but having said that the bowlers did the job for us, came back pretty well in the death overs, giving 50 odd runs with 7 wickets in hand was a great effort. Playing the conditions well is important, we didn't adapt well in Chennai, but we knew once that leg ended, we were going to play on good pitches. We didn't adapt to those conditions well, but these conditions allowed our batters to come out and play the game they knew well.â
While the franchise time and again has expressed a need to take the pitch out of the equation, Rohit insisted that it was key for the franchise to be fearless in some aspects while controlling the others. He also reckoned that the bowling pleased him against a dangerous Rajasthan batting unit.Â
âWe have had a lot of discussions, we play in a certain manner and we want to adapt to that. It allows them to be fearless, a few guys can anchor the innings and play around the hitters. It's important to have different characters in the team and that's what we have got.â
"Our bowling pleased me a lot, it's easy to lose confidence when the opposition are doing well, but we stuck to our plans, very happy for Quinny, we know how dangerous he can be at the top of the order, good that he finished off the game. Not to forget, Krunal Pandya's knock was crucial as well," he concluded.
