Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 26 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s home clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday, Mumbai Indians (MI) batting coach Kieron Pollard expressed happiness with veteran Rohit Sharma’s form, saying that the team always had belief that the ‘Hitman’ will come good.
The fourth-placed MI will be aiming to make it five successive wins in five matches as they lock horns with LSG, the sixth-placed side at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Both teams have won five and lost four games so far. MI’s and Rohit’s fortunes have undergone a massive transformation of late.
While MI lost four of their first five games, they went on to win the next four on the bounce. Also, Rohit, who looked shabby out in the middle with just 82 runs in the first six innings and missed a game, has roared back to form with two hard-hitting half-centuries against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Rohit is slowly finding his groove in this season, having made 228 runs in eight innings at an average of 32.57 and a strike rate of 154.05, with two fifties and the best score of 76*.
“If my memory serves me right, at the start of this competition, that question was different. I said, sitting right here, we are also going to be singing his praises as an individual. For us, we always had that belief that he is going to come good,” said Pollard said in pre-match presser, according to ESPNCricinfo
“There are dips. There is low confidence. But for someone who has played this sport for a long time, you have these moments. Sometimes you just need that extra support from people. Now we are singing his praises. We are all very happy in the Mumbai dressing room. We were happy at the start as well, knowing that it is going to happen, and long may it continue.”
“The headlines are going to be about that. But for us, in our entire batting unit, we look for guys to perform at different junctures in a tournament. We are not going to individualise it,” he said.
It is not the first time that MI started the season by losing games more often than winning, as they are known to be slow starters who get red-hot as the tournament progresses. Pollard feels that MI has “found a sort of a method” which is working for them.
“There is no ‘more important’ part in IPL,” Pollard said on whether the second half was more important than the first half of the tournament.
“It all depends on the form and confidence of the team. In the second half, you build a bit of momentum. You will tend to say that now is more important. But you have 14 games in a tournament. Each and every game is important. Some teams gel faster than some, or they start off pretty quickly. Some teams build the momentum and come into the back end. The most important thing is trying to qualify for the playoffs and get into the final and see if you can win. That is important,” he said.
Pollard also heaped praises on MI skipper Hardik Pandya, who has had a quite a transformation. Booed out of every stadium on his return to the franchise that made him a star after two brilliant seasons with the Gujarat Titans (GT) by fans for allegedly betraying Rohit by taking over the captaincy from him, Pandya went on to play a crucial role in India’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and ICC Champions Trophy 2025 wins with both bat and ball.
In the ongoing season, he has made 104 runs in five innings, striking at 170.49, and has also picked 12 wickets in nine innings at an economy of 9.08 and average of 18.91.
Pollard expressed his admiration for how Hardik came out of such a challenging phase and showed the world what the sport and the idea of winning means to him.
“I know he is enjoying cricket as we have all seen from international cricket, winning World Cups, to the Champions Trophy. It is an individual who has gone through a lot. For me, I am happy to see where he is at right now. And, as I said previously, we are all human beings in this world. So sometimes we need to give a bit of leeway to some individuals at certain times,” he said.
“Who says he would not have another down? And who says he is not going to have another up as well? So that is what life is about, and that is what the journey is about. So I am happy for Hardik,” he concluded.
Squads:
Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Abdul Samad, David Miller, Shardul Thakur, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Ayush Badoni, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Aryan Juyal, RS Hangargekar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Akash Maharaj Singh, Akash Deep, Mayank Yadav, Shamar Joseph, Arshin Kulkarni
Mumbai Indians Squad: Ryan Rickelton(w), Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Vignesh Puthur, Rohit Sharma, Karn Sharma, Reece Topley, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Krishnan Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, Bevon Jacobs, Satyanarayana Raju. (ANI)
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