Rohit Sharma, the Captain of Mumbai Indians said intelligence, teamwork and unity are the essential ingredients which are purely responsible for the team’s success.
Rohit said, “Individual brilliance can win you a few games. But, what is required to win this championship are these things.”
The captain said, “All three titles are special for me for different reasons. If you look at the first two titles we won, we probably had one batsman in the top five (leading run-getters.) We didn’t have (even) one batsman in the top five this time which is a little bit sad, but that goes to show that different individuals have come up at different times and taken up responsibility.”
“We’ve never relied on one individual to win us the game. We got a few youngsters, a few inexperienced players and a few legends in our bowling unit. It was a combination of both,” he explained.
Rohit admitted that they didn’t apply themselves well when batting first and ended up with a meager 129. He further said “Our target was between 140 and 160. If we had tried to overreach to 180, then you could’ve been bowled out for 120.”
He remarked, “When you are playing on a slow pitch, it’s important to believe you can defend any target when you are fielding. So, when we came into the changing room after our poor batting display, we spoke about the last game against KKR, one of the better batting units in the tournament. We bowled them out for 107. Why can’t we do it here again? The guys knew the challenge and rose to the occasion.”
“But again, these things can happen, sometimes you are so nervous you try and overdo it. During the break, we had after six overs (when Pune was batting), we just got together and asked everyone to be calm,” Rohit declared.
Irrespective of whether there was a partnership for 10 overs, the team were required to stay in the game for 20 overs.
“A wicket here or things can change. When we defend a low target, it is important for the fielders to create the pressure. So, the message was clear. Be calm and don’t overdo things. That’s what exactly happened. We squeezed in and spinners came in and bowled those dot balls to make them play big shots. That’s where they made mistakes,” he said.
The captain said, “We always knew we had a great backup in Johnson for the injured Mitchell McClenaghan.”
“The last over was very crucial. We (with Johnson) discussed not giving space to Smith to play his strokes and it was a fantastic catch by Rayudu under pressure,” Rohit said.
