We Didn't Capitalise On The Start In The Powerplay: Rohit Sharma

Delhi Capitals clinched a tight win against Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians in Chennai as they chased down a stiff 137 with six wickets to spare. Delhi Capitals’ spinners spun a web around Mumbai Indians’ batsmen crumbled in the middle-overs and scraped through to 137, owing to some lower-order contributions. Rohit Sharma, who top-scored with 44, mentioned that they did not play smart cricket in the middle overs.

Even though the Mumbai Indians lost Quinton De Kock cheaply, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav played briskly, adding 58 off 29 deliveries. Veteran leggie Amit Mishra, who replaced Lukman Meriwala, struck twice in his second over to remove Sharma and Hardik Pandya for a golden duck. Suryakumar Yadav was the first to go among him and his captain for a 19-ball 24.

Lalit Yadav struck to dismiss Krunal Pandya, while Mishra returned and sent back Kieron Pollard and Ishan Kishan. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav, replacing Adam Milne, was the only one to reach double figures after Ishan Kishan and his 23 runs gave the defending champions something to bowl at. Amit Mishra finished with figures of 4-0-24-4.

Prithvi Shaw perished cheaply in the second over, as Jayant Yadav caught the ball off his own bowling. Shikhar Dhawan and Steve Smith stitched a pristine partnership of 53 by stabilising the innings before the latter departed for a promising 33. Dhawan added another 36 with Lalit Yadav before the opener went back for 45. Even though the Capitals lost Rishabh Pant at the wrong time, Shimron Hetmyer mustered timely boundaries to deliver a victory.

You need to play smart cricket to win: Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma lamented the poor batting performance in the middle overs as they could not capitalize on the start they got in the powerplay. The right-handed credited the Delhi Capitals’ bowlers for maintaining the pressure by picking up wickets. The 33-year old remained aware of the possibility of the dew setting in but felt that it was not difficult to grip the ball. Rohit stated that they needed to play smart cricket to win and explained his absence from the field in the second innings as only a tiny niggle, saying it should be fine.

“After the start we got, I thought we could have batted well in the middle overs, which we didn’t do. We didn’t capitalise on the start in the powerplay, which we failed to do again. Credit to Delhi bowlers – they kept the pressure up and kept taking wickets. We knew dew was going to come in. We saw in the last few games that it’s not that difficult to grip the ball. Dew is not really the factor. You need to play smart cricket to win. Just a small niggle, should be okay,” Rohit told in the post-match presentation.

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