Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma felt his team was 20 runs short in the two-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Chepauk on Friday.
Mumbai has now failed to win the opening game of the season since 2013. "Winning the championship is important, I guess, not the first game. Great fight, we didn't let it go easily. Although the score wasn't something we were happy with. We were 20 [runs] short with the kind of start we had," said Rohit.
Assessing the game, the opening batsman said, "We made some mistakes, those are bound to happen. We need to move on. Marco Jansen]is definitely a talent we have identified to bowl in any situation. When you look at the situation with four overs left they had AB [de Villiers] and [Dan] Christian, that's why we went with [Jasprit] Bumrah and [Trent] Boult to try and get them out."
The ongoing season of the IPL see teams play matches at neutral venues due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"It can be difficult for teams that have great home records, but that is what sport is, you've got to go away and win. We are fortunate that we're even on the park," said Rohit.
He added, "Definitely not an easy pitch to bat on, the odd ball was gripping. That's something we could think of in our next few games here. De Villiers batted really well and got them home. In hindsight we can say that [the intensity will take time to arrive]. We haven't had much time together as a group and it was totally opposite in Dubai, where we began preparations a month before. But that's how the IPL has been played over the years, you just got to get in the game as quickly as possible."
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