Mumbai Indians slumped to a 6-wicket defeat against the Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday in the 2023 edition of the IPL.
Mumbai were put to bat first by CSK skipper MS Dhoni and were restricted to the modest total of 139 for the loss of 8 wickets in their 20 overs.
CSK chased down the target without much hassle in 17.4 overs as they reach the 140-run mark for the loss of 4 wickets.
MI skipper Rohit Sharma, who got out for a duck on the day, said that the Maharashtra-based side failed as a batting unit against the four-time title winner Chennai.
“Our batters didn’t put up enough runs. We had an off-day as a batting unit,” Rohit said.
Rohit decided to play at number 3, after the fall of Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who was dismissed for 6 runs off 4 deliveries. Rohit said that he had opted for the change in the batting order as a result of left-handed batsman Tilak Verma’s unavailability on the evening.
“Just felt that was what was comfortable after losing Tilak. Thought we needed Indian bats in the middle overs but lost three in the powerplay.”
Veteran bowler Piyush Chawla scalped 2 wickets for 25 runs in the encounter as he dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made 30 off 16, and Ajinkya Rahane for 21 off 17. Rohit credited Chawla for his effort and suggested that it would prove fruitful for the team if they could rally around the experienced spinner.
“Piyush is bowling well, others need to rally around him. That’s what we expect, it’s a team game. But we can take a lot of learnings and take it forward,” he said.
Rohit cited the upcoming games to be essential in the pursuit of the team’s ambitions for the year and emphasised that the team needs to play well to turn their fortunes around.
“We need to play good cricket, the next two home games are important. We need to do well to come back,”
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