Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma was ecstatic after his team registered an 81-run win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Eliminator match of the IPL 2023 on May 24 and made it into the Qualifier 2.
Despite not having a big name pacer in their ranks with injuries to Jasprit Bumrah, Jhye Richardson and later, Jofra Archer, MI still managed to utilize what resources they had and fought till the very end.
MI captain Rohit Sharma accepted that the team knew plenty of work had to be done when last year is taken into account but he’s happy to see where the team is now despite a ‘scrappy’ progress.
“I definitely thought about it. That is what we have done over the years. People don’t expect us to do certain things but we come out of all the obstacles and then manage our way through to get what we want,” Rohit said after the match.
He continued, “Honestly, we, at the start of the season, knew a lot of work had to be done compared to what happened last season. We worked through it, scrambled through it. It was a scrappy one but I would take that anyway."
Right-arm pacer Akash Madhwal has proved to be the find of the season for MI. He took 5/5 in the Eliminator, in a one-sided win for MI over LSG.
“He (Akash) was the part of the team last year as a support bowler, and once Jofra (Archer) was gone and I knew he had skills and the character to do the job for us. Over the years, we have seen many guys coming in from Mumbai Indians and playing for India.
It is important to make them (youngsters) feel special and make them feel part of the team, my job is to just make them comfortable in the middle. They are very clear in their roles about what they need to do for the team and that’s what you want," he added.
There were as many as three run outs during the LSG chase with captain Rohit himself effecting one.
“As a team, we enjoyed it (fielding). Good to see everyone contributing on the field. Coming to Chennai, we knew whole team needs to come to the party. At Wankhede, you need one or two brilliant performances, but here it is a different ball game," Rohit said.
MI will now face Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on May 26.
(IPL inputs)
