Rohit Sharma delighted with ‘perfect game’ against Capitals

Speaking after the match, Rohit said, “DC are a very good side. They have done really well through the tournament. But you have to give credit to our guys. Today they turned up and put huge runs on the board.

Hyderabad: Mumbai Indians’ captain Rohit Sharma, who termed their 10-wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last league game as the ‘worst performance of the tournament’, was over the moon after his team dished out an all-round performance to crush Delhi Capitals by 57 runs. He termed the win as a ‘perfect game’ that helped them enter the final of the Indian Premier League.

Speaking after the match, Rohit said, “DC are a very good side. They have done really well through the tournament. But you have to give credit to our guys. Today they turned up and put huge runs on the board. Our bowling unit has been terrific. They put pressure on the opposition from the beginning. The game was absolutely perfect,” he said.

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On handing the new ball to Bumrah in this match, “It depends on number of conditions. We think about the match-up and opposition teams. Depending on who is batting, his form and what the total was, we give our bowlers to have a go at them,” he revealed. He also lauded Suryakumar for setting the tone for a big total. “He has been in terrific form. Having lost the wicket in second over, we were on the backfoot. But with Quinton de Kock and Surya putting on that partnership, we got the momentum back.”

However, there was a moment of worry for the MI side when Trent Boult left the field after bowling his second over. Speaking on the incident, he said, “He has been crucial for us with the new ball taking those early wickets. He had done that in his career. I haven’t seen him yet. He looks fine and it (sending him off the field) was just the precautionary measure. He should be ok for the finals.

He also said they wanted to get to par score of 170 or 180 with dew set to come in. “With dew coming in, you are not sure what the safer target is. We needed to get to par score first and getting those 20, 30 extra runs was a bonus,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Capitals’ coach Ricky Ponting said they failed in executing their plans against MI. “We went wrong in executing our plans. With first over going for 15 runs, we tried to come back and hoped for a 170-run target. But our execution in the final overs was not good. We kept feeding Hardik Pandya with easy balls and Ishan Kishan too played well.”

Ashwin, who picked up the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the second over, was taken out of the attack from next over and Ponting said he didn’t know the reason behind it. “I am not sure. I haven’t asked the captain about it. I am sure the captain had the right intention behind the decision.”

He also said Marcus Stoinis (65) and Axar Patel (42) and Ashwin (3/29) were the only positives from the match. “Marcus is slightly frustrated for not getting more exposure at the top of the order. He showed his class today. He batted well with Axar Patel. Their batting and Ashwin’s bowling are the only few positives in this game. We know there are no easy games in this tournament. We can’t take a single ball, over or a batsmen for granted. That can come back and haunt you. SRH and RCB are good teams. We make sure we do our training properly and ready for the match,” he concluded.