Mumbai: A disappointed Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma has vowed his side will try for making a comeback in IPL 2022 after the five-time champions lost their sixth straight match, the latest being an 18-run loss to Lucknow Super Giants at the Brabourne Stadium here on Saturday.
Sharma also took “full responsibility” of being unable to give Mumbai the start they needed in a chase of 200, making just six while his counterpart K.L Rahul set up Lucknow’s win with an unbeaten 103 off 60 balls in his 100th IPL match.
“I take the full responsibility of no putting the team in the situation of what they expect from me. I back myself to go out there and enjoy the game and doing what I have been doing all these years. It’s important to keep looking forward. It’s not the end of the world, we have come back before and we will try and comeback again,” said Sharma after the match.
Sharma rued the fact that none of the batters in the Mumbai line-up, including himself, got a big score and stitched partnerships, just like what Rahul did during Lucknow’s innings. In six innings of IPL 2022, Sharma has amassed just 114 runs at an average of 19.
“I think K.L (Rahul) batted brilliantly that is something missing from our team, wanted someone in our top four to bat as long as possible which is not happening, don’t want to look too much into it. We haven’t won a game yet but we need to keep our heads high. I’m trying to prepare myself in the way I prepare for every game, that is no different. It’s not coming off.”
Earlier, after electing to bowl first, Mumbai’s bowling were unable to dismiss Rahul or stem the run-flow. Lucknow were cautious against Jasprit Bumrah, making only 24 runs off his four overs while going big against other bowlers like Jaydev Unadkat, Murugan Ashwin, Fabian Allen and Tymal Mills.
“Hard to point out one particular situation, when you are chasing a total we need big partnerships, something we failed to do today. There’s no particular reason to it, we try and put team before the individual. They bat quite deep and it is important to hold your key bowlers towards the back end. We always try and keep Bumrah for the back end and it didn’t seem to work out. He bowled pretty well but the others just need to pull up their socks a little bit,” stated Sharma.
With Mumbai yet to register a win, they are virtually out of the competition and need to be on the winning side in rest of their matches, which seems to be easier said than done. Sharma signed off by saying that Mumbai is still trying to figure out their best playing eleven in the tournament.
“Every game we play is an opportunity; we try and think what our best playing XI which is best suited for the particular conditions and particular team. We lost 6 games now, we are trying to understand what our right combination is, but it all depends on the opposition that we play. When you lose games it is very easy to point out that changes are being made but we try and go with our best eleven.”
(IANS)
