Rohit Sharma was a distraught captain as Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday (April 16) suffered their sixth successive defeat in the ongoing IPL with an 18-run loss against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Brabourne Stadium.
Asked to bat first, LSG rode on skipper KL Rahul’s unbeaten 103 off 60 balls to pile up a massive 199/4 on the board.
In reply, the five-time champions managed 181/9 in their 20 overs as many batters got starts but failed to take the team over the line.
After the game, Rohit "full responsibility" for MI’s dismal campaign, saying he understands what course correction is needed to get them back on track but it is not coming off.
Notably, Rohit Sharma is also struggling with the bat in the IPL 2022 season, managing only 114 runs from 6 innings with the highest score of 41.
"If I know what's going wrong, I'd correct it but it's not coming off. I'm trying to prepare myself in the way I prepare for every game, that is no different. It's not coming off," Rohit said.
"I take the full responsibility of not putting the team in the situation of what they expect from me. I back myself to go out there and enjoy the game and doing what I have been doing all these years.
"It's important to keep looking forward. It's not the end of the world, we have come back before and we will try and come back again," he added.
The MI skipper also defended his strategy of not starting with the team's No. 1 bowler, Jasprit Bumrah.
"There's no particular reason to it. We try and put team before the individual (Bumrah). They (LSG) bat quite deep and it is important to hold your key bowlers towards the back end. We always try and keep Bumrah for the back end and it didn't seem to work out," he reasoned.
Rohit further said that bowling has left a lot to be desired.
"He bowled pretty well but the others just need to pull up their socks a little bit. Every game we play is an opportunity, we try and think what our best playing XI which is best suited for the particular conditions and particular team," he said.
"We lost six games now, we are trying to understand what our right combination is, but it all depends on the opposition that we play. When you lose games it is very easy to point out that changes are being made but we try and go with our best XI."
Rohit Sharma lavished praise on his counterpart KL Rahul for a stunning batting display.
"I think KL batted brilliantly, that is something missing from our team, wanted someone in our top four to bat as long as possible, which is not happening. Don't want to look too much into it. We haven't won a game yet but we need to keep our heads high," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
