Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma was left disappointed over his team's super-over defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 10 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Dubai this Monday (September 28).
Having conceded a massive total of 201/3 in the first half, MI found themselves struggling at 78/4 in the 12th over of the run-chase. That is before young wicketkeeper batsman Ishan Kishan (99) and the team's experienced power-hitter Kieron Pollard (60*) pulled off an outstanding recovery act and took the game to the super-over.
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However, then failing to get the big shots required against RCB's impressive paceman Navdeep Saini, MI could only manage 7 runs off those six balls and later saw opposition veterans AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli smartly tackle the situation against ace quick Jasprit Bumrah to lose two crucial points.
"It was a great game of cricket. We were not in the game at all when we started off with the bat. Great innings by Ishan there and then Pollard was brilliant as usual for us," said Rohit at the post-match presentation ceremony, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
"It is just that we couldn't start well, I thought we could chase 200 with the batting power we have. We didn't get the momentum in the first 6-7 overs and also lost three wickets."
"With Polly being there anything can happen, Ishan was also hitting it well so we had the belief that we would get there. Nothing to take away from RCB they held their nerve more than us," he added.
Rohit explained the rationale behing not sending Ishan back to face Saini in the super-over, saying the left-hander had drained out by the time he finished with his courageous knock.
MI instead send two of their renowned batsmen in Pollard and Hardik Pandya, with Rohit at No.3, but on the day, they just couldn't get those maximums, the credit for which must be given to young Saini.
"He (Kishan) was drained out and was not comfortable. We thought we could send him but he was not feeling fresh. Hardik is somebody we trust to hit long balls, it is not coming off but we are confident he can pull things off for us," said Rohit.
"I mean 7 runs you need to have luck on your side, we had to get wickets but there was also an unfortunate boundary. We came back really well and a lot of positives to take away from this game," he added.
