Our worst performance of the season: Rohit Sharma on loss to SRH

Rohit Sharma, who returned to lead the side after recovering from hamstring injury, said they wanted to forget the loss as soon as possible.

Hyderabad: Mumbai Indians suffered an embarrassing 10-wicket loss in the final league match of the Indian Premier League against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday. With this win, the David Warner-led SRH sealed the play-offs berth and finished the league stage at No.3 in the points table with 14 points.

Asked to bat first, the table toppers MI managed 149/8 which the Sunrisers chased down in 17.1 overs without losing a wicket. David Warner (85) and Wriddhiman Saha (58) slammed unbeaten half-centuries to guide their side into play-offs. Terming the loss as their worst performance in the season, MI captain Rohit Sharma, who returned to lead the side after recovering from hamstring injury, said they wanted to forget the loss as soon as possible. “We are not expecting a result like that. This is probably the worst performance of the season. We want to leave this performance right here. Having said that we wanted to try out different combinations and test our bench strength. It is a good learning experience. But still we didn’t want a result like that,” said the disappointed skipper.

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MI rested Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult for this match. Speaking on their absence, he said, “These two guys are our wicket-taking bowlers. We certainly missed them today. But it is important for us to manage their workload. They have been playing consistently and travelling a lot. We wanted them to get these rest days and get ready for the next game. Both of them are fine fitness-wise.”

On being asked whether losing the toss had a bearing on the result, he said, “Toss is something that is not in anyone’s control. We have seen that change in trend as well over the course of the tournament. Earlier, winning the toss and defending the total was the norm. But now it changed with dew coming in. Still, we needed to come out and execute our plans even with the wet ball. We needed to get the job done no matter what conditions are.”

Speaking on the play-offs match against Delhi Capitals, he revealed, “Playoffs will be a different ball game. We were there many times and we knew the pressure. We made a lot of mistakes in this match. We were not good with the bat. Our shot selection was wrong. As I said, we want to forget this match as soon as possible. We will regroup and get together and understand what we need to do as a team collectively. Overall, we played a good tournament.”

Meanwhile, man of the match Shahbaz Nadeem, who picked up two wickets for 19, said, “It always feels good when you perform in a team’s win. I felt really nice to contribute at this stage of the tournament. We were under a bit of pressure because this was a crucial match. But that is the same situation in the last three games. So we took it as any other game.”

He also lauded the fast-bowling unit who got the job done despite losing Bhuvneshwar Kumar. “They have been bowling very well after Bhuvi’s absence. That too bowling in crucial times like in powerplay and at death and delivering goods was tremendous. They did a fantastic job in the first six overs. It really feels good to defeat a strong team. It gives a lot of encouragement to our team,” he concluded.

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