Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma feels his team will have a “slight psychological advantage” against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL 2020 final on Tuesday (November 10) but he refused to dwell on past success.
WATCH – Sachin Tendulkar delivers a motivational speech for Mumbai Indians on the eve of final
In the ongoing IPL season, MI and DC have met three times and the defending champions emerged victorious on each occasion, with the recent one coming in the first qualifier by 57 runs last week.
“There will be a psychological advantage a little bit, yes, but again what we have seen with IPL is every day is a fresh day, every day is a new pressure and every game is a new game. So you can’t think too much about what has happened in the past,” Rohit said on the eve of the final, as quoted by PTI.
“To be honest, we can’t think about that we have played these guys before and we have beaten them. We just need to think that they are a new opponent and what will we do as a team against that opponent,” he added.
The MI captain stressed on doing the basics right if they are to clinch their fifth IPL title.
“It is that simple for us and we keep doing right things on the field, I am sure we will have the fifth one in the bag.”
Trent Boult sustained a groin strain during the first qualifier but Rohit is confident that the left-arm pacer will be available for the all-important clash.
“Trent looks pretty good. He is going to have a session today with all of us and we will see how he goes, he pulled up pretty well in last few days, so fingers crossed and hopefully he plays,” the skipper said.
Rohit also spoke about how Mumbai Indians have been able to build a solid core team over the years with players like Kieron Pollard, Pandya brothers – Hardik and Krunal — Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar along with someone like Boult.
“It’s a no brainer that (Boult) he is the best bowler with the new ball, when it comes to swinging the ball back into the batsman and luckily for us we got him traded from Delhi and he has not disappointed anyone of us,” Rohit said.
“Looking at the squad, the strength, the balance of this team, you know I cannot point out anything (weakness) to be honest.
“…And it’s not a rocket science, we have worked really hard for this, balance this players, all this players were available to all the teams,” he further remarked.
He hailed the MI management for identifying the right players and investing in them.
“Let me tell you that, you know right from No 1 Quinton De Kock to No 11 Jasprit Bumrah, all these players were available for all the squads, but we invested in them at the start and we had faith in them.”
“A lot of credit goes to Mumbai Indians team management, the scout, they have done a great job with all these guys making sure they get that comfort, they get that backing, otherwise it is not possible, it is not possible to have squad like that,” Rohit said.
(With PTI inputs)
