Traditionally a slow starter, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma says he wants his team to win most of its initial matches this IPL season, as some of his players will leave for World Cup preparations at the back-end.
“We want to win as many games as possible at the startbecause we know how hectic it gets in the end. A few of the guys leaving forthe World Cup doesn’t help either,” Rohit said after his team’s victory overSunrisers Hyderabad Saturday night.
“We don’t want to be a team who starts off poorly.” The winwas made possible by Alzarri Joseph’s dream IPL debut, returning with figuresof 6/12, which is the best in the league’s history.
Rohit was in awe of the young pacer from the West Indies.
“It was a sensationalbowling effort from Alzarri, to bowl like this in first game. He’s come in witha lot of confidence from the CPL and he’s carrying it here,” Rohit said.
Joseph broke the back of the Sunrisers Hyderabad battingorder as he helped Mumbai Indians defend a below-par total of 136 at the RajivGandhi International Stadium.
Earlier, a brisk 46 from Kieron Pollard helped MumbaiIndians finish on a decent note.
“We didn’t bat well to start with, kept losing wickets andwe knew after a few overs that it wasn’t a 170-180 pitch. The pitch was undercovers for a day, it was raining as well and the wicket was a bit sticky,”Rohit said. “So we knew that 140 would be a good score to defend because we’vegot the quality in our bowling and we back them to defend whatever we get.
“We knew that once we got an early wicket we were in thegame and with the spin and the seamers we have, we knew we could knock them outin the middle,” the MI captain added.
Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar felt droppingPollard cost his team the match.
“I think it started off when we dropped Pollard, he scored25-30 runs – it is a huge margin. It could have been an easy chase if we wouldhave applied ourselves. When you drop catches it is never easy,” he said.”There is less margin for error (when you are bowling) but you need to grabyour chances to restrict any team to under 120,” Bhuvneshwar said.
It was the third win for Mumbai Indians in five games whileHyderabad suffered their second loss in five matches. “It (captaincy) isdifficult but you have experienced players around, not a tough job. First threematches we got good opening partnerships but we never got a chance to test ourmiddle order. Today when we did we did not apply ourselves,” the India seameradded.