Mumbai Indians have had a terrible start to the seventh edition of the IPL, losing all five matches in the UAE leg.
As they prepare to lock horns with Kings XI Punjab in the first game on Indian soil – at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium – their captain Rohit Sharma is confident of turning the tables.
“We all know it has been a disappointing start. Certain things we did not do right. We committed a lot of mistakes right from the first game against Kolkata [Knight Riders] till the last game against Sunrisers [Hyderabad] and kept repeating them,” said Rohit.
“That can happen, it’s a new team. It’s a different challenge now. We have come to Bombay (Mumbai), we know the conditions here. It’s a fortress. Last year we won eight out of eight. We will try and keep that record intact.
“It will be a challenge as we will be playing the table toppers. The crowd here is very enthusiastic. It will be an extra advantage for us,” he added.
Rohit, who himself was not among the runs in the UAE scoring 84 runs in five games, feels all the key batsmen know the wickets in India and should do well.
“Batting has not been up to the mark. We are disappointed the way we batted. Shot selection wasn’t that great. We have come to familiar conditions and all our batsmen know how to bat on this wicket and I hope for a better performance from all our batters.
“All I can ask my team members is not to repeat the same mistakes of the last five games. If we keep doing the right things I am sure things will fall in place. The last game we came pretty close to victory, but unfortunately it wasn’t our day. We have got the right combination, the players, only thing is we are not executing our plans. [Today] will be a critical game, which we have to win,” said Rohit.
Rohit said his team was aware of the task at hand – winning eight of their remaining nine matches – if they want to make it to the fourteam play-off stage.
“We just have to win eight games out of nine [to qualify]. It will be a difficult task but as I said we don’t want to think too far ahead. Tomorrow is an important game. We want to win that and then think about the next game. That will be our strategy,” he said.
