Rohit steers Mumbai to first IPL win
PTI
PTI, MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma, who steered the defending champions to their first win of the season with a 52-ball 94, credited West Indian Evin Lewis for allowing him to settle down on the crease in the IPL clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday.
Mumbai Indians notched up their first victory by defeating Royal Challengers Banglore by 46 runs, here last night courtesy Rohits 94 and Lewis 65. The Mumbai franchise posted a steep 213/6 before restricting the opposition to 167/8 in 20 overs.
...with Evin Lewis batting, anything can happen, he is a great striker of the ball and anything in his area he is going to smash it and that is what he did. It allowed me to take my time, which was very crucial. We always wanted one set batsman to bat as long as possible and (it was a) perfect platform for me to do that, explained Rohit.
The hosts started off horrendously as RCB pacer Umesh Yadav removed opener Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in successive balls with MI struggling at 0/2. Rohit also said that his team was positive in its approach despite the first three losses.
The only thing we did not do as a group in the last three games was sometimes (when) we batted well, (then) we did not bowl well. (When) we bowled well, we did not bat well. The idea was to get both of these departments going and we wanted to be consistent our bowling as well as batting, said the MI skipper.
He also praised the performance of his bowlers Mitchell McClenaghan, Krunal Pandya and Mayank Markande.
Today (Tuesday) we did that and we got wickets with the new ball. Mitch bowled a great spell upfront to get the experienced batsmen out, and then Krunal came in and used his variation to his advantage.
He reads the batsman really well and not to forget Mayank, he is just 20-year old playing his fourth game and to come out and bowl in such difficult conditions, it is not easy, the 30-year-old batsman added. Asked about the batting order. the skipper said he would continue to bat at number three, allowing the new players to settle down.
Meanwhile, RCB head coach Daniel Vettori lamented Hardik Pandyas escaping dismissal on a DRS referral and said it cost the team another 20-30 runs.
He said Washington Sunder and Yuzvendra Chahal were defensive while their MI counterparts were more attacking in their approach.
Kishan sustained injury on his face in the 13th over of the game after a throw from Hardik Pandya bounced off the practice pitch and hit him on his face.
Kishan was immediately taken off the field and was replaced by Aditya Tare, who captains Mumbai in domestic tournaments.
