Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene praised former skipper Rohit Sharma for his blazing 84 on return after injury in the successful run chase against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 4. In the MI dressing room, Jayawardene revealed that Rohit was desperate to make a comeback after hamstring injury ruled him out of action. However, the 39-year-old was given an extra week to regain fitness and there was a need to be patient with him.
“Before he says a few words, it was a brilliant effort from him. He worked hard to get where he was. He was desperate to play, but we were patient with the old man, this time around. Usually, he makes a comeback in a week’s time, but we gave him an extra week to do what he needed to do,” Jayawardene said as Rohit was given the in-house Maverick Award by team's owner Nita Ambani.
After receiving the award, Rohit thanked MI medical team for helping him on the road to recovery.
Rohit returns after 3 weeks
Rohit pulled his hamstring during the run chase against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 12. Since then, MI tried various opening combinations as they went through a rough patch.
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From five innings, Rohit has scored 221 runs at an average of 55.25 and strike rate of 174.01. He has two half-centuries in the season.
Rohit-Rickelton’s match-winning partnership
In the run chase of 229, Rohit and Ryan Rickelton shared a 143-run partnership from 65 balls. The veteran opener hit seven sixes and six fours in his 44-ball 84. He was dismissed by left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth and missed a chance to score his third IPL century.
Rickelton lauded Rohit and said that the two complement each other with their unique style of play and put pressure on the opposition with right-left combination.
“RO (Rohit) is really good, that is the chemistry out there,” said Rickelton after the game.
“Obviously nice to get out there. He has been on the sidelines for a bit and to see him come back and play the way he did, so free-flowing, is quite unique. We just complement each other well as a left-hand, right-hand. We score in very different areas and we are quite clear on how we want to put pressure. We have been blessed with a very good wicket and a very nice place to bat as well at the Wankhede. Just enjoyable to get out there and hopefully we can have many more returns.”
Ro-Ko in Raipur
Rohit will be seen in action on May 10 when MI go up against RCB. The remainder of four games are must-win encounters for MI. Also, they need to win them by big margins to improve their net run rate (NRR).