IPL 2020: ‘Hamstring is absolutely fine’, Rohit Sharma looking to ‘play few more games’
IPL 2020: After the match, Rohit provided the update everyone wanted to hear, revealing that his injured hamstring has recovered and that the MI captain is actually looking forward to playing the remaining games in the UAE.
Hours after BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed to the media that it was indeed Rohit Sharma’s injury that kept him out of the three Indian squads for the tour of Australia, the batsman returned to lead Mumbai Indians in their final league match of the Indian Premier League 2020 on Tuesday to provide a new twist to the saga.
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Rohit has been a hot topic of discussion ever since he was omitted from India’s Test, ODI and T20 squad for the tour of Australia beginning November 27. It was believed that a hamstring injury, which Rohit sustained during MI’s match against Kings XI Punjab and missed the next four matches for the franchise due to it, was the reason behind his omission. Board president Ganguly clarified that if Rohit can recover in time, there is no reason why he cannot be added to the squads.
However, when Rohit turned out for the toss and said that he is ‘fit and fine’, many were left puzzled. After the match, Rohit provided the update everyone wanted to hear, revealing that his injured hamstring has recovered and that the MI captain is actually looking forward to playing the remaining games in the UAE.
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“I was happy to be back, it’s been a while. I’m looking forward to play few more games here, let’s see what happens. It (hamstring) is fine, absolutely,” Rohit said after MI’s 10-wicket defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
On his return to the side, Rohit scored just 4 runs as MI slumped to an embarrassing loss. The defending champions were the first of the four teams to qualify for the playoffs but and Rohit rued MI’s performance, calling it their ‘worst performance of the season.’
“Not the day we want to remember, probably our worst performance of the season. We wanted to try a few things; it didn’t go our way. We knew dew was going to play a factor and we wanted to take the toss out of consideration, but we didn’t play good cricket today,” he said.
Put in to bat, MI posted 149 for 8 courtesy Kieron Pollard’s 41 and a couple of 30s from Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. But making that target even tougher to defend was the dew, which made it hard for the MI bowlers to grip the ball properly. SRH openers David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha peeled off unbeaten half-centuries to gun down the target in the 18th over and seal a place in the playoffs.
“We play at Wankhede where there’s dew in the second innings. You have to back your skills, and believe that you can get people out. They played good shots in the powerplay, and that helped them. If you take wickets in the Powerplay, even if there is dew, it can put pressure on the opposition. It’s a very funny format,” Rohit explained.
Rohit said MI will be better off putting this result on the back of their minds and instead focus on Thursday, when they face Delhi Capitals in the first qualifier.
“It’s always nice to forget was has happened, and focus on the present. They (Delhi) are a good side, so it will be a good challenge to face them. You want to leave this performance behind as quickly as possible. We’ll get back to the drawing board and figure things out.”
