Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma addressed his side after the loss against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Pune. He said that they need to show desperation and come together.
MI suffered a demoralizing 5-wicket loss at the hands of KKR in Pune. After a poor start with the bat, Suryakumar Yadav (52) and young Tilak Varma (38*) formed a formidable partnership and took KKR bowlers to the cleaners to rescue their side’s innings.
They stitched an 83-run partnership before Kieron Pollard blasted a 5-ball 22* to help his side post a total of 161 runs on the board after a slow start.
Defending the target, MI started decently with the ball and took wickets at regular intervals to reduce KKR to 101/5. But after that Pat Cummins took the game away from them. The right-hander scored 35 runs off Daniel Sams' bowling in the 16th over and took his side home with four overs to spare.
Speaking in a video posted on the Mumbai Indians Twitter account, Rohit Sharma said that his side needs to show desperation to stay ahead of the opposition.
“We seriously cannot be blaming individuals here. It's all of us. We win together, we lose together. That is as simple as that for me. I think slight desperation is required from each one of us. That desperation is very, very, very important when we play, especially in this tournament.
“Because oppositions are different, they come up with different plans all the time. We just need to stay ahead of them. We just need to stay on top of them. And the only way we can do that is by having that slight hunger and that desperation on the field - with the bat, with the ball," Rohit Sharma said.
Rohit said that his team doesn’t need to panic and although there’s talent and potential in the group, they need hunger on the ground to win the matches.
“We don't need to panic. Honestly, we talk about talent, potential and everything in this room - but until we bring that desperation and hunger on the ground, oppositions are not going to hand us wins just like that,” he said.
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Rohit said that just like KKR snatched the victory from them, they need to do the same against the opposition and clinch the crucial moments.
He mentioned that although it’s still the early days in the tournament, they need to come collectively together and put on good performances.
"They certainly took the victory from us. We need to do that against the opposition as well. We need to nail those crucial moments and then see what happens, after that. There's no point in putting our heads down at this point, because it's still early days.
“Still early days. And I feel that, in these three games that we've played we've shown some character. It's just that collectively, all 11 of us inside - whoever goes inside - need to come together," he said.
Mumbai Indians will next face Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday (9th April) at MCA Stadium in Pune.
