On the back of captain Rohit Sharma's gritty half-century and bowlers' phenomenal execution in death overs, five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians (MI) finally managed to open their account this season. The Men in Blue registered a nerve-jangling six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on April 12 (Tuesday). Rohit scored his first half-century since April 2021 in the cash-rich tournament and it was an incredible knock from the Hitman as the conditions were challenging for the batters.
The MI skipper came out with a mindset to attack and destroyed DC bowlers in the powerplay. He got good support from his opening partner Ishan Kishan. After the game, Rohit spoke about how he wanted to capitalise on the field restrictions to put his team in the driver's seat early in the run chase.
"When I went to bat I thought that I needed to make full use of the powerplay because as the game went on, I thought in my mind it's going to be tough with 2 couple of quality spinners they have so it was there in my mind to keep attacking, take my chances in the first 6 overs and then just see where the game is heading," Sharma said after the match.
Rohit scored 65 runs off 45 balls and the bulk of the scoring came in the first six overs of the innings. Overall, the stylish right-handed batter smashed six fours and four sixes.
The Hitman also stressed how his team has been working during the practice sessions and victory was the by-product of rigorous training.
"We've been working really hard and finally to get the result feels really good. But we do understand it's not the end but the first win is always special so we're gonna cherish this," Sharma said.
"I thought everyone put their hand up and it is something we spoke of before the game as well that if it is someone's day then make it really big and make it count for the team," he added.
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