IPL 2019: Sanjay Manjrekar criticises Mumbai Indians' team selection against KXIP

Even before the start of their game against Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians suffered a big blow with their talismanic skipper Rohit Sharma out of the contest due to an injury. Rohit had suffered the injury during a training session on Tuesday and had then limped out of a practice session. He was then replaced as captain by in-form all-rounder Kieron Pollard. Mumbai Indians also handed a debut to local batsman Siddhesh Lad.

The unfortunate injury brought an end to Rohit’s eight-year long streak with Mumbai Indians. The right-handed batsman missed a match for Mumbai Indians in the IPL for the first time since he was traded in by them in 2011 from the now-defunct Deccan Chargers. The last time he had missed an IPL game was against Chennai Super Kings on May 27, 2008. Rohit played 133 consecutive games for Mumbai Indians.

Barring including Lad, Mumbai did not make any change to the playing eleven. However, the decision did not go down very well with former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. The cricketer-turned-commentator took to Twitter to express his surprise over the decision, saying that with Rohit unavailable, the team should have bolstered their bowling department by including Lasith Malinga.

“Once Rohit was not available, MI should have looked to make their bowling stronger but they dropped Malinga. Emotions prevailed over cricketing wisdom and logic. Let’s see how this goes,” tweeted Sanjay Manjrekar.

Malinga had missed Mumbai Indians’ previous encounter as he was taking part in a domestic event. However, the veteran pacer, who is Mumbai Indians’ all-time leading wicket-taker, was available for this game. But Mumbai Indians instead stuck with Alzarri Joseph who had picked up 6 for 12 on his debut.

Mumbai Indians’ official statement:

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians have given a statement on Rohit’s injury, confirming that the skipper suffered a muscle spasm. The statement also confirmed that Rohit was rested only as a precautionary measure.

“Rohit Sharma had suffered right leg muscle spasm yesterday during training. Rohit has recovered significantly in past 24 hours. As a precautionary measure, Mumbai Indians management has decided to rest Rohit for one match,” the team management revealed in a statement.

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