A bad start to the season for the Mumbai Indians got worse on Saturday, as the most successful Indian Premier League team slumped to a sixth consecutive defeat at the start of the 2022 campaign.
Speaking after the defeat by 18 runs against Lucknow Super Giants, captain Rohit Sharma admitted his form has been a concern.
“If I know it, probably I will do it,” Rohit said about his personal lack of significant runs so far. “Honestly, I am trying to prepare myself in a way that I prepare for every game. There is nothing different there. It’s just not coming off. I take the full responsibly of not putting the team in that situation what they expect from me.”
“I do understand the responsibility that I have as an individual, and as a player as well, which is something I have failed to do in the six games. But, again, I back myself to go out there and enjoy my game and do what I have been doing all these years. It is important to not completely look down. It is important to keep looking forward. It’s not the end of the world. We’ve come back before, we’ll try and come back again.”
The 34-year-old has had a torrid time with the bat, scoring just 114 runs from the six matches, with a high score of 41 - all well below the India captain’s usual high standards.
The bowling too has lacked bite.
“(Jasprit Bumrah) bowled pretty well but the others just need to pull up their socks a little bit. 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 opposition,” Rohit said.
“We lost six games now, we are trying to understand what probably will be the right combination. 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 combination.”
On Saturday, LSG got off to a good start and were buoyed throughout the innings by their skipper KL Rahul’s performance. The 29-year-old came up with an unbeaten 103 from just 60 balls at the Brabourne Stadium to set up a target of 200.
In reply, Mumbai could only manage 181 for 9 in 20 overs, with the highest scorer being Suryakumar Yadav, with 37. Sharma scored 6.
“I think KL batted brilliantly, batted till the end. 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.” Rohit Sharma added.
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