Mumbai Indians’ continued their winning run in the Indian Premier League 2020 when they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Friday. It was a clinical performance by MI as they dominated KKR both with the bat and the ball. They restricted KKR to just 148 runs and then chased down the target in just 16.5 overs with Quinton de Kock hitting a 44-ball 78.
KKR were in tatters during the first innings as they lost their first four wickets for just 42 runs. But there was still the threat of Andre Russell looming over MI. The stage was set for Russell to explode in IPL 2020. But MI skipper Rohit Sharma had an ace up his sleeves. He brought on pacer Jasprit Bumrah to rattle Russell. And it worked as Bumrah dismissed Rusell with an impeccable bouncer. Rohit talked about the decision after the match.
“I believe a lot in match-ups, we have got success as a team (doing it) – understanding the match-ups is important but we need to be instinctive at times. Krunal and Rahul also bowled to Russell, I took a chance with the ball gripping and turning, but I knew Bumrah was the go to guy against him.”
Rohit on Friday said his team lived up to the expectations with its clinical showing in both batting and bowling, which culminated in an eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.
“(We were) clinical with the ball, clinical with the bat, overall you know, the performance that we were expecting was there,” Rohit said the presentation ceremony.
“It is always a challenge when you have won four out of four, how you turn on that particular day, it is very important and I thought we turned up really well, right from the start we were there on their faces.” According to Rohit, he usually takes a backseat when batting with de Kock, who likes to take on the bowlers from the word go.
“I enjoy batting with him (De Kock), he is very straightforward on what he wants to do and most of the time I have taken a backseat because he likes to take on the bowlers right from the word go.
“I probably assess the situation, I have a role to play in the squad and I try and do that more often.
“But I want Quinny to bat the way he is batting and he shouldn’t be taking any sort of pressure about what the team is expecting from him, as long he keeps doing what he loves to do, we are in good position,” added Rohit.
Source: IPLT20.com