You cannot replace experience, says Jayawardene

Mumbai Indians head coach Jayawardene said that Rohit could have gone about his way of bashing the ball from the first over itself, but chose to take his time and understand the pace of the game

HYDERABAD: Mahela Jayawardene said that Rohit Sharma always made sure that he batted differently in the big games to give the team the best chance of success.

Speaking to media after Mumbai Indians scored a 20-run win against Gujarat Titans in the IPL Eliminator in Mullanpur on Friday night, head coach Jayawardene said that Rohit could have gone about his way of bashing the ball from the first over itself, but chose to take his time and understand the pace of the game.

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“Rohit batted brilliantly. I think he took his time a little bit, letting Jonny take control initially. And, then when he knew it was his time, he got into a brilliant tempo,” he said.

“The pressure that he put on Sai [Kishore] and Rashid [Khan] in that situation was absolutely brilliant,” Jayawardene said . “In big games, he does have a different gear that he plays. That’s what experience does, and you cannot replace that,” Jayawardene said.

The coach said that Mumbai were smart to shift to a yorker barrage after realising that the slower ones were not sticking into the wicket. “We couldn’t get our grip. Planning-wise, we changed our plans to bowl yorkers as much as we could because the length balls were skidding through. The variations were not happening. I think it was a tough last 10 overs for us, but the experienced heads held together and we executed brilliantly,” Jayawardene explained.

“When you have a winning culture, it’s easier to try and have that same thing going through. We have a very experienced core group within our ranks. That winning mentality itself comes through from those senior players,” he said.

“Players who have won trophies do help. My job is to try and cultivate the new guys who are coming into the squad. After the big auction, we had quite a few new faces,” Jayawardene said.

“I think telling them about how we operate and having that attitude that we’ll never die from a situation always works,” said.

“Jasprit Bumrah is a massive asset for us, the experience that he carries through to the team and the situations that he’s been bowling for us as well. It’s great to have him around the group. The experience that he brings, talking to Ashwini in that last over before he bowled that as well, those things, it’s very, very important,” Jayawardene said.

“Ashwin (pacer) is a great talent. I think the first season itself, the way he has responded to the challenges that we put him through. He’s done brilliantly. I know he hasn’t played much state cricket as well. But when you saw him, we saw the skill that he has,” Jayawardene said.