'Why fix something that ain't broken?' - Mahela Jayawardene backs Rohit Sharma and de Kock to open for MI in IPL 2020

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma, on Thursday, confirmed that he will be opening the innings unless the team needs to perform him a different role during the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). He opened alongside Quinton de Kock throughout the season last year and feels there is no reason to change the combination at the top of the order.

The coach of the franchise, Mahela Jayawardene has also seconded the captain’s opinion and has backed De Kock and Rohit to open the innings to start with. The four-time and the defending champions have also secured the services of Chris Lynn for this season and it seems that the Australian will have to warm the bench as of now.

Jayawardene is delighted to have Lynn in the line-up as, according to him, having extra options is always a good sign for the team. “Having options is always great. Chris Lynn is a great addition to the squad but the combination of Rohit and Quinton has been there for us, last season they complement each other well. It has been very consistent and both are well experienced cricketers.

“I always feel ‘why fix something that ain’t broken’. So we will continue to go with that but having Lynn as an option gives us flexibility in the squad,” he said while speaking in the virtual press conference on Thursday.

Chris Lynn not in great form

Moreover, if recent form in taken into consideration, Chris Lynn isn’t in great form. He struggled a lot in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL) while playing for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots mustering only 138 runs in nine matches at a mediocre average of 17.25 and a strike-rate of 107.81.

The pitches were slow in West Indies and the case will be more or less the same in the IPL this season with the tournament to played in the UAE. Having said that, Lynn is an explosive batsman and at some point, MI might want to have a look at him as the season progresses.