IPL 2018: Rohit Sharma rues 'silly mistakes' after MI's demoralizing loss to RCB

MI will now have to win all their remaining matches to qualify for the play-offs.

Rohit Sharma recorded a first-ball duck against RCB on Tuesday night | IANS

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma was visibly upset after his side suffered a demoralizing 14-runs defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday (May 1).

With this loss, the defending champions have now slipped to the seventh spot on the points table. In the 8 matches of this year’s IPL, MI have won only two matches thus far.   

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Rohit said: "It is disappointing to be on the losing side. We got ourselves to blame though. Didn't play smart cricket, losing wickets in the powerplay didn't help. We wanted to keep ticking on the scoreboard. Credit to RCB, they bowled really well, it was a tough wicket and they kept us guessing."

Following the trend of the ongoing IPL, Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first. RCB started their innings cautiously before Manan Vohra cut loose in the 4th over by smashing JP Duminy for 22 runs.

When RCB were in a spot of bother at 61/2, Brendon McCullum (37 runs off 25 balls) and skipper Virat Kohli (32 runs off 26 balls) took the center stage and added a 60-run stand for the third wicket. Thanks to the cameo from Colin de Grandhomme (23 runs off 10 balls) in the last over, RCB eventually put on a competitive total of 167/7 on the board.

Rohit praised Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli for their attacking knocks before admitting that the defending champions made 'silly mistakes' throughout the match.

"I think our bowling was good, but we could have kept them down to some 10-15 runs short. We came back well after that partnership between Kohli and McCullum, but as I said, we made silly mistakes and that cost us," he said.

Chasing the target, MI needed a solid platform up front to chase this stiff target but their openers (Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan) couldn’t step up to the plate. While Yadav made 9 runs off as many deliveries, Kishan recorded a first-ball duck.

After the dismissal of openers, RCB created even more chaos in the MI camp as Umesh Yadav removed Rohit for a golden duck. Although Pandya brothers – Hardik and Krunal – put on a 56-run stand for the sixth wicket, they were always playing the catching up role. RCB eventually restricted MI to 153/7 and thereby secured their third win of IPL 2018.

Rohit concluded by urging his troops to keep believing in themselves in this difficult phase.

"We still need to have the belief in ourselves, need to win almost all our games now. We need to keep to the basics, I feel we still have a good chance to qualify for the knock-out phase of the tournament," Sharma signed-off.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 02 May, 2018

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