When asked at the presentation whether he thought two weeks ago that Mumbai would make it to Qualifier 2, Rohit said: “I definitely thought about it. That’s what we have done over the years. People expect us to do certain things. Don’t expect anything but we overcome all the obstacles and make our way to get what we want. To be honest, at the beginning of the season, of course we knew that because of what happened last season We have a lot of work to do in comparison. But we worked our way through it, we fought through it. Yes, it was a frustrating job but I’ll take it any day.”
“First and foremost, it is important to make them feel special, make them feel part of the team,” Rohit said. “They play a lot of domestic cricket but it’s a different ballgame with so many people here, there’s a lot of pressure as well. My job as captain is to make sure they feel comfortable on the field when they want to perform. With bat or ball, our job – myself and the coaching staff – is to make sure they are comfortable and very clear in their roles and what they have to do for their team. As long as you make it very clear to them, Let’s give, that’s all (they) want.
Mumbai had made the playoffs by winning high-scoring games at the Wankhede Stadium, where they had won five out of seven, but the conditions in Chennai for the eliminator were quite different, with the boundaries being bigger and the pitch turning more and not being batting friendly. Happen. Rohit was happy that despite different circumstances, his team came together and registered a big win.
He said, “We knew that when we came to Chennai, it would not be one man who would trouble us; it would be the entire unit who would have to come to the party and perform well at different times.” “At Wankhede, you know you need one or two guys to step up and take the game forward, but when you play on a pitch like this, in conditions like this, you need everyone together. There’s a need to come and that’s what we talked about before coming here, this game.”
Akash Madhwal a ‘gamechanger’
Rohit also praised Madhwal, who took the first wicket of the chase, and then in his second spell dismissed Ayush Basoni and the hard-hitting Nicholas Pooran on consecutive balls before taking the final wicket to leave LSG at 74 for 5. But stopped.
“He was part of the season last year as a supporting bowler, but he didn’t get a chance to play. We knew he had what it takes,” Rohit said. “Once Jofra left, we needed someone to bowl at the back-end. After watching him a lot I was confident he could do the job for us. (He has) a lot of skills, good attitude, very The whole character is there as well. So it was very enjoyable to see that.”
“He’s amazing,” Green said of Madhwal. “Ever since he came into our team, we realized that we have got someone special here. The way he carries himself out there – in his first IPL season he doesn’t look like he is intimidated at all. He bowled brilliantly “