Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered a narrow two-wicket defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL 2021 opener at Chepauk on Friday (April 9).
Opting to bowl first, RCB restricted the defending champions to 159 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of Harshal Patel’s five-wicket haul (5-27).
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In reply, the Bangalore-based franchise rode on AB de Villiers’ blazing 48 off 27 balls to overhaul the target on the last delivery.
MI might have begun their title defence on a losing note, but their skipper Rohit Sharma isn’t too concerned about it as he believes winning the title is more important than the first game.
Rohit also acknowledged that his side was 20 runs short of the par score in the opening game of the tournament.
"Winning the championship is important, I guess, not the first game. Great fight, we didn't let it go easily. Although the score wasn't something we were happy with. We were 20 short," Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"We made some mistakes, those are bound to happen. We need to move on. [Jansen] is definitely a talent we've identified. When you look at the situation with four overs left they had AB and Christian, that's why we went with Bumrah and Boult to try and get them out," he added.
Both teams struggled to get going in the middle overs and according to MI skipper, the pitch wasn't easy to bat on.
"Definitely not an easy pitch to bat on, odd ball was gripping. That's something we could think of in our next few games here. De Villiers batted really well and got them home," said Rohit.
"We haven't had much time together as a group and it was totally opposite in Dubai, where we began preparations a month before. But that's how the IPL has been played over the years, you just got to get in the game as quickly as possible," he further remarked.
"It can be difficult for teams that have great home records, but that is what sport is, you've got to go away and win. We are fortunate that we're even on the park," he concluded.
Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their next game on Tuesday (April 13) at Chepauk.
(With ANI inputs)
