Abu Dhabi: Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma was all praise for his team mates on Tuesday after they beat RR by 57 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. This was their third consecutive win this season and both their previous matches ended in comprehensive victories for the four-time champions.
We strive to play with power. We’ve got quality in this squad. We’ve given confidence to each one of them because we know they’re very talented,’ aaid Rohit in the post-match presentation ceremony.
The conditions are quite helpful (for our fast bowlers). We were not sure how the pitches were going to be, whether it’d be helpful for our pace battery. But it was nipping around and it’s good to have guys who can exploit those conditions, he said.
All but one of the RR batsmen on Tuesday fell to catches, which included two screamers by substitute fielder Anukul Roy and Kieron Pollard to dismiss Mahipal Lomror and the rampaging Jos Buttler respectively.
The fielding was brilliant, it’s something we take pride in. We can have ups and downs with the bat and ball but fielding is something we can control. It is something that we pride ourselves with and work very hard on, he said.
The match was featured a gutsy 79 not out from Suryakumar Yadav, was declared player of the match for the performance.
It was coming (for Suryakumar). I spoke to him today before the match. He was batting really well all these games. It was all about shotmaking – today his shortmaking was perfect. All the innovative shots at the end came in handy, said Rohit.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Steve Smith said that the team’s inability to get off to a good start in their innings has hurt them in recent games.
I think losing wickets early doesn’t help, we haven’t been able to get off to a good start in the last three games, said Smith after the match. ‘Outside of Jos (Buttler) and (Jofra) Archer at the end, we have a bit of work to do on our batting.’
Smith, however, said that the current run of form is no reason to panic. I don’t think we need to panic too much, it is just about implementing our plans and playing some good cricket for longer. We haven’t been able to do that in the last three games and we have to turn it around quickly. Hopefully get a bit of momentum, he said.
The 2008 champions are awaiting the return of star all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is undergoing the mandatory quarantine after arriving in the UAE recently.