MUMBAI INDIANS have been a successful chasing side and they have won a majority of their games this season by batting second.
However, during their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, MI skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first only to eventually lose to the David Warner-led side. After compiling a 139-run target, MI failed to restrict SRH as Shikhar Dhawan struck a 46-ball 62 to lead the hosts to a comfortable seven-wicket win.
Although the Mumbai franchise are at the top of the rankings table with 18 points, Rohit Sharma expressed disappointment over not being able to win the match after batting first. As reported by CricketCountry, the elegant batsman said,
“We haven’t batted (first) much. We just wanted to try something different and it didn’t pay off. We have two more games left. We need to regroup as soon as we can and try to turn it around. Batting second was so much easier. If you don’t take wickets, it’s always going to be hard.”
Rohit showered praise on Dhawan and reckoned that loss was an eye-opener and a great lesson for the upcoming matches.
“Shikhar batted really well. It’s a great eye-opener as to what we need to do when we bat first. Toss is in nobody’s hand. We could be put to bat first. Today was a great lesson for us.”
MI will play their next match against KXIP at Wankhede on April 11.