IPL 2019: Rohit Sharma admits Rishabh Pant’s onslaught was too much for Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians (MI) had not won their tournament opener in the last six editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and when they turned out against Delhi Capitals (DC) for their first match of IPL 2019 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, they were determined to turn things around.

Skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to field first, a decent decision given the history of Wankhede Stadium. They also had the Delhi Capitals (DC) locked for a target of around 170. However, then they encountered a storm by the name of Rishabh Pant.

Pant slammed a 24-ball 78* which included 7 fours and 7 sixes and he reached his fifty in just 18 balls. There was no bowler who was spared and even Jasprit Bumrah was taken to the cleaners thanks to the rampage caused by Pant, who took Delhi Capitals to 213.

Rohit Sharma admits that Pant blew them away

“First game is always challenging for most of the teams because there are lot of new players in the squad. We made a lot of mistakes today and that was the reason we lost the match. We were in the game in the first 10 overs while bowling but the way Rishabh batted, we have to give the credit to him,” Rohit Sharma was quoted as saying by India Today.

Rohit Sharma also talked about his bowling attack and mentioned: “We had 6 bowling options today. We didn’t play another spinner because I thought pitch will do something for the pacers. They had lot of left-handers in the squad so I was not convinced that leg spinner will bowl full four overs. We were very really clear about how we want to approach the game.”

He, however, said that his bowlers missed the lengths and they failed to execute their plans which happened due to the presence of new guys in the team. He also showed confidence in his team and said that they are professional cricketers and needed to learn from their mistakes.

Yuvraj was brilliant, says Rohit

MI’s reply to Delhi’s onslaught was not as they would have liked, as they kept losing wickets regularly. Only Yuvraj Singh was able to hold fort with a brilliant fifty to his name on his MI debut. “Yuvi batted brilliantly. If someone would have made 70+ in the top four then things would have been different,” Rohit Sharma praised the knock of the southpaw.

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