Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper heaped praise on Suryakumar Yadav's batting in the 57-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Suryakumar scored a career-best unbeaten 79 off 47 balls to take MI to 193. "It was coming [for SKY]," said Rohit. "I spoke to him today before the match. He was batting really well all these games. It was all about shotmaking - today his shotmaking was perfect. All the innovative shots at the end came in handy."
Mumbai became the first team in IPL history to score over 190 runs in five successive matches.
"We strive to play with power. We've got quality in this squad. We'e given confidence to each on of them because we know they're very talented," said Rohit.
MI pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Bolt delivered early breakthroughs in the PowerPlay to leave RR reeling at 12/3 after 3 overs.
On his pacers, the skipper said, "The conditions are quite helpful [for our fast bowlers]. We were not sure how the pitches were going to be, whether it'd be helpful for our pace battery. But it was nipping around and it's good to have guys who can exploit those conditions."
Royals skipper Steve Smith lamented his team's poor start with the bat in the chase of 194. T team has now lost its last three matches in which its batting has failed to click.
Smith said, "I think losing wickets early doesn't help. We haven't been able to get a good start in the last three games. Outside of Jos [Buttler] and Jofra [Archer] at the end, we've got work to do."
All-rounder Ben Stokes, who reached the UAE over the weekend, is undergoing a six-day mandatory quarantine. "Stokes is not out till the [October] 10th. He's not too far away. Hopefully we can get a few wins and get some momentum before he comes in," said the Australian.
With just four points from five matches, Smith said his team can still turn it around. He said, "I don't think we need to panic too much. It's just about implementing our plans and playing good cricket for longer. Hasn't been a good last three games. Need to turn it around and get some momentum."
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