Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma emphasised on Wednesday that his side will not enjoy an “added advantage” during the upcoming IPL-15 despite all games being played in Mumbai and Pune.
Five-time champions MI will start their campaign against Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday. Like other teams, MI will play at the Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium, DY Patil Stadium in Nerul and the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
‘A relatively new team’
“It’s a relatively new team, a lot of new guys have come in, so I don’t believe in added advantage. Seventy to eighty per cent of the squad, have not played in Mumbai before. So, there is no such thing as an added advantage,” Rohit said in reply to mid-day’s query about them on familiar turf during a virtual press conference.
“Only Surya [Suryakumar Yadav], [Kieron] Pollard, Ishan [Kishan] and [Jasprit] Bumrah and myself have played in Mumbai a lot. We all are playing in Mumbai after two years. In fact, other franchises have played in Mumbai last year. We did not, so no advantage,” Rohit explained.
Rohit to open with Kishan
Rohit, who has scored 5,611 runs in 213 IPL games, revealed that he will be opening the innings with left-hander Kishan, who was the most expensive player of IPL mega player auction. MI retained him for a whooping Rs 15.25 crore.
However, Rohit is not sure about having Suryakumar soon as he is currently at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore recovering from his hairline thumb fracture, which he picked up during the T20I against West Indies on February 20 “He is recovering well. He will be here soon.
I can’t give you [details of] his availability right now… whether he will be there to play the first game or not.
But yes, we are trying to get him here as soon as possible once we have clearance from NCA,” Rohit remarked.
We’ll try to keep players motivated and fresh: Mahela
Though IPL-15 is a long 65-day tournament starting with the game between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (March 26) and ends with the final on May 29, Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mahela Jayawardene feels that it will not be a big challenge to keep players’ momentum throughout the tournament.
“Everyone’s looking forward to the IPL season. We have reasonable breaks in between [the games], all the franchises do, so I think overall it will be managed well. We are still playing the same number of games, even though over a slightly longer [period]. We will try to keep focused, motivated and fresh for the entire season,” the ex-Sri Lankan skipper said during a virtual press conference.
Subodh Mayure
