It was my lucky day, says Rohit Sharma

Rohit who scored a brilliant 50-ball 81 to play a lead role in the 20-run win against Gujarat Titans in the Eliminator of the IPL in Mullanpur on Friday night, said that he would have loved to score more fifties this season

HYDERABAD: Mumbai Indians star opener Rohit Sharma said it was his lucky day (he was dropped twice very early in his innings in the first three overs) and that he wanted to capitalise most of the chances that came his way.

Rohit who scored a brilliant 50-ball 81 to play a lead role in the 20-run win against Gujarat Titans in the Eliminator of the IPL in Mullanpur on Friday night, said that he would have loved to score more fifties this season (he hit four and all of them were winning knocks this season).

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“I do understand the importance of playing this Eliminator and going through this next step, taking that step forward. Again, a complete team performance, which we are really, really proud of,” Rohit said in the post-match chat with the host broadcaster.

“To be honest, I’ve played all those shots in the game before and unfortunately, I found fielders,” Rohit said. “Somewhere down the line, you know, you’ve got to be lucky and today was that day for me. I got lucky,” Rohit, who also became only the second player after Chris Gayle to hit 300 sixes in IPL history, said.

“You know, those catches were dropped. But again, like I said, even after the drops, you still have to play well to get those runs. And that is what I was focusing on, how I can keep that momentum going, keep that tempo going, which was brilliant from our entire batting unit to get that score. And then, like I said, it was a good bowling effort as well,” the former India captain explained.

Rohit also praised Jonny Bairstow, whose early fireworks also played a key role (22 ball-47) in Mumbai’s win. Bairstow, who had replaced Ryan Rickelton, marked his MI debut.

“I’ve watched him over the years being on the other side,” Rohit said of Bairstow. “But it was nice to be on the same side and have a crack at it. We know the quality that he has; a lot of experience playing this format. And we know what he can do upfront with the bat,” Rohit said.

“That is exactly what it did. It never looked like he was playing his first game for this franchise. You know, got settled in pretty well, took his chances and it came off. And it was a good start. We always look for that start. We got that start and we then obviously capitalised on it,” Rohit explained.

Mumbai Indians will take on Punjab Kings in the Qualifier 2 on June 1 in Ahmedabad.