Mumbai Indians were once again off to a losing start in the Indian Premier League campaign opener as they were defeated at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight wickets on Sunday. The Rohit Sharma-led team lacked behind RCB in both batting and bowling departments, with only Tilak Verma stepping up with an unbeaten knock of 84 off 46 balls. While MI failed to defend the total of 171 runs in the second innings, skipper Rohit was confronted with a question related to Indian pace superstar Jasprit Bumrah.
Hailed as one of the most dominating pacers of the era, Bumrah has been a key player for the five-time IPL champions ever since he made his debut for the team around a decade ago. However, the pace sensation has been out of action ever since picking up a back injury last year. He went on to miss the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, several bilateral limited-over series, and the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023, before getting ruled out of IPL 2023.
Meanwhile, at the post-match presentation show after MI’s loss at the M. Chinnawamy, which is considered to be a nightmare for bowlers, Rohit Sharma was asked about the disadvantages of not having Bumrah by his side. “For the past six-eight months I am used to play without Bumrah. We can’t control things which we can’t control. The other guys are also talented. A lot of the guys haven’t played IPL before. First game of the season, lot to look forward to,” Rohit told the match presenter.
MI squad 2023: Rohit Sharma opens up on poor batting show during MI vs RCB
Coming back to the match, MI lost wickets in quick succession in the first innings, with the top four batsmen of the lineup getting out with only 48 runs on the board. Tilak then displayed his masterclass by hitting 84 runs off 46 balls with the help of nine fours and four sixes. “Didn’t have a great start but was a good effort from Tilak at the end. But the bowlers didn’t bowl well. We didn’t bat good enough, it was a good pitch,” Rohit Sharma said.
“Some of the shorts he played today, he showed a lot of courage. We wanted to be courageous enough, and hats off to Tilak for getting us to the total. Was a good pitch to bat on. We did not bat to our potential. 30-40 runs would have been ideal. We were struggling t play the catch-up game,” the skipper added. Meanwhile, RCB cruised to the target riding high on the 148-run stand for the first wicket between Virat Kohli (82* off 49) and Faf du Plessis (73 off 43).
