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Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma looked helpless when Pat Cummins unleashed a brutal onslaught on Daniel Sams in the 16th over of the run chase. Cummins finished the game with four overs to spare which left everyone perplexed. The sensational hitting from Australia’s Test skipper turned out to be a bitter pill to swallow as it left Rohit frustrated after the match.
“Never expected him to come and play like that. Lot of credit... This will be hard to digest, the way it turned out in the last few overs,” Rohit said in the post-match presentational ceremony at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
This was MI’s third consecutive defeat in the season. While MI usually don’t do well in their initial games, Rohit said he does not want it to be the same every season.
“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. I don't want to be in this position all the time,” the 34-year-old said with a frustrated smile.
Rohit was critical of his team’s performance but lauded the hitting in death overs by Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Kieron Pollard.
“With the bat we did not start well, in the last 4-5 overs to get 70+ was a great effort from the batting unit. We did not bowl according to the plan. We had the game till the 15th over, but then Cummins was brilliant. Whenever you have runs on the board, we always have the upper hand, We had them 5-down, it was just a matter of the wicket of Venky or Pat, they had Sunil who could smash them,” he added.
Rohit has not been in the best of forms this season. He could score just three runs from 12 deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The opener lost his wicket to Tymal Mills in an attempt to play the pull shot. The top edge did not travel the distance and landed in wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings’ gloves.
So far, he has scored 54 runs from three games at an average of 18. He was impressive against Delhi Capitals (DC) in MI's opening game but his 41-run knock was not enough as their bowlers failed to defend 178 despite getting the big wickets.
