IPL 2022: Rohit Sharma believes Mumbai Indians need to bat deep in search of first win

Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) have made the worst possible start in IPL 2022 as they again lost in their recent game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on April 9.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to bowl first. For Mumbai, Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 68 and helped Mumbai post 151 runs on the board. While chasing, Anuj Rawat smashed 66 off 47 and a quickfire 48 from Virat Kohli helped them win the game within 18.2 overs as well. After the game, Anuj Rawat, who won the Player of the Match shared that he feels great to contribute.

Meanwhile, Faf du Plessis has also expressed his happiness about winning the match. He praises the batting unit for doing well and also lauded the bowlers for restricting the opponents within a below-par.

He said: “Really good (how it feels). Mumbai is a strong team. Bowling tonight was really good. Probably for 18 overs excellent batting, was some quality batting at the end there. Very happy standing here. Would’ve bitten your arm off surely (target of 152). There was something in it for the bowlers with the new ball. Rohit played some good shots, very valuable wicket to get him out. Akash Deep was very good. Hold that back of a length with the seam standing up, there was something there. Brilliant bowling performance. I spoke about him before at the start of the tournament (Anuj Rawat). The potential that he has. Lots of conversations between the two of us.”

READ MORE: Rawat, Kohli guide Royal Challengers Bangalore to a thumping victory

However, it has been a tough season for Mumbai Indians as well as Rohit Sharma. He also added that they wanted to strengthen the batting unit but most of them failed miserably, including the captain. He even admitted that they got out on the wrong time. However, he also praised Suryakumar Yadav for batting sensibly.

“Lot of credit to Surya at least to get us to 150” – Rohit Sharma

“(Two overseas players) Just the combination that we felt would be ideal on certain pitches and certain opposition. We wanted to strengthen our batting, unfortunately we had few overseas guys who were unavailable, so we wanted to get the best from whatever we had. Just got 26, I wanted to bat as long as possible, but unfortunately I got out at the wrong time. We were hitting that partnership, we just got off to a 50-run partnership, got out at the wrong time, that is something that’s hurting us a little bit. Definitely not a 150 pitch, Surya showed us if you bat sensibly, you can get more than what you got,” Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation.

“Lot of credit to Surya at least to get us to 150, but we knew that it wasn’t going to be enough. We took our chances with the ball but they batted quite sensibly. Lot of areas actually (to address), we want some of our batters to bat as deep as possible. That is one thing we are looking at, if we get runs on the board, there’s something for the bowlers to do. In the last two games, we were not able to do that. Last game we got 160, this game we got 150-odd, on a pitch like that, it’s not enough. When you come up against an opposition like that, it’s never going to be enough. I have always spoken of collective performance both from bat and ball, that seems to be missing at the moment. Once that comes through, I think we should be good,” Rohit Sharma concluded.