With three days to go for the IPL 2022, Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma said the five-time champions will have no “added advantage” of playing their matches in the city’s three grounds as many in the “relatively new team” have not played a single game in last two years.
A total of 70 league matches will be played across four international standard venues in Mumbai and Pune.
Wankhede Stadium will host 20 matches while 15 matches will be played at Brabourne Stadium (CCI). DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai will host 20 matches whereas Pune's MCA International Stadium will conduct 15 matches.
“I hope you saw the auction, relatively new team, lot of new guys have come into the team, so I don’t believe in added advantage because these guys, like lot of the guys 70 (or) 80 percent of the squad has not played in Bombay before,” Rohit said at a virtual press conference on Wednesday (March 23).
“So there is no such thing as added advantage,” he added.
Mumbai Indians will open their IPL 2022 campaign against Delhi Capitals on March 27 at the Brabourne Stadium.
“Only myself, Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), (Kieron) Pollard, Ishan (Kishan), (Jasprit) Bumrah have played in Bombay a lot. Others have not played, so there is no such thing as added advantage,” Rohit reiterated.
“We all are playing in Bombay after two years, we have not played a single game in Mumbai, in fact the other franchises have played in Bombay last year, we didn’t get to play, so no advantage,” Rohit maintained.
Providing update on key batter Suryakumar Yadav’s availability, Rohit said the former is still undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and would join the team after getting clearance from there.
Notably, Suryakumar had sustained a hairline fracture on his thumb during the T20I series against the West Indies last month.
“Surya is at NCA at the moment, he is recovering well, he will be here soon and I can’t give you his availability now, whether he will be available for first game or not, but we are trying to get him as soon as possible, once we have the clearance from the NCA,” the MI captain said.
Rohit also made it clear that he and Ishan Kishan would open the batting for Mumbai Indians.
“I will open the batting. (I have) been doing that in the past, so I am looking forward to open (the batting) with Ishan (Kishan),” he said.
Rohit Sharma welcomed the move to have two DRS per innings in the forthcoming season.
“Look, that (Mankading) has become legal, so batters will need to pay more attention, when to come out of the crease and when not, so it is very simple, the rules have come and we need to follow them.
“Secondly, I think it is a good rule, the new batsman should face (the ball) if the batsman gets out, it is important that a bowler is bowling in good rhythm and he gets a wicket, a new batter faces him, especially when he catches out.
“It is a good opportunity for the opposition to keep up the pressure.” He added, “And having two DRS is also a good rule, because fewer mistakes in the game, the better it is. In international cricket we play with two DRS, so it should be there in the IPL, so I think it is a good move to bring two DRS by the IPL,” said Rohit.
(With PTI inputs)
