IPL 2022: We did not bowl according to the plan – Rohit Sharma

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma feels they didn’t bowl according to their plans after losing against Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wednesday.

The five-time champions were blown away by Pat Cummins in the last couple of overs as the Australian scored a whirlwind knock of 15-ball 56.

Cummins scored the joint-fastest fifty in IPL history as he matched KL Rahul’s record, getting to the personal milestone off just 14 balls. The right-hander went 1, 6, 4, dot, dot, 6, 4, 1, 6, 4, 6, 6, 2nb, 4, 6 in his blitzkrieg knock as he took the attack against the opposition bowlers.

In fact, KKR were 101-5 after 13.1 overs when Cummins joined forces with Venkatesh Iyer. That they finished the game with four overs to spare, goes to show how Cummins destroyed MI bowlers. He even didn’t give any respect to MI ace paceman, Jasprit Bumrah as he deposited him for a cow-corner six.

Cummins took 35 runs off his compatriot Daniel Sams’ over, which is the second most expensive over in the IPL history. It was an unbelievable knock from the Australian as he changed the match on its head.

Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “Never expected him to come and play like that [on Cummins]. Lots of credit. The pitch got better and better to bat as the game went on. It was holding up initially. Overall it was a good pitch. With the bat, we did not start well, in the last 4-5 overs to get 70+ was a great effort from the batting unit. We did not bowl according to the plan. We had the game till the 15th over, but then Cummins was brilliant. Whenever you have runs on the board, we always have the upper hand, We had them 5-down, it was just a matter of the wicket of Venky or Pat, they had Sunil who could smash them. This will be hard to digest, the way it turned out in the last few overs. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. I don’t want to be in this position all the time [frustrated smile on being pointed out that MI have been in this position before at the start of an IPL season].”

Mumbai Indians have got off to a torrid start as they have lost their opening three matches. MI needs to come up with a more collective effort to turn the tables. The Rohit Sharma-led got off to a poor start with the bat as they lost two early wickets in the powerplay overs. However, they did well to post 161 runs on the board after Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma scored impressive knocks.

Mumbai Indians will play their next match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday.