Having started with a few losses, Mumbai Indians have bounced back brilliantly and qualified for the final of the 12th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). They have won the first qualifier against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on May 7 in Chennai. Happy with the win, captain Rohit Sharma shared that they had plans to restrict Chennai Super Kings to a below-par score and keep the dangerous MS Dhoni quiet at the end of the innings.
“It was a great effort and a great feeling to know that we’ll be playing the finals. Three days now in which we can switch off before the final. Much needed break,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
“I knew we have the bowlers to restrict them (Chennai) and it was important to do so because it can get tricky against their quality spinners. We knew MS was going to be crucial towards the end of the innings and we were prepared for that. We had plans laid out. When you restrict a team like that under 140, it looks very good. Full credit to our bowlers for executing that,” Sarma added.
“Given the CSK batting line-up we had to take a call and thought it would be better to have a finger-spinner than a wrist-spinner, which is why we picked Jayant Yadav who is a quality bowler,” Rohit told.
Read here: Need To Go Round The Wicket To Qualify, Says MS Dhoni
Captain also said that they are prepared for any kind of situation.
“We’ve got a balanced squad. Whatever the conditions are, we’ve got the squad for them. Even the batters are confident in what they want to execute. That’s probably one of the reasons we’ve had some success in Chennai because we play the conditions well and understand the conditions well,” he further added.
However, at one point the chase looked tough as they lost their inform openers Rohit and Quinton de Kock very cheaply. But Suryakumar Yadav (71*) anchored the chase to the end and handed over the win.
“Suryakumar is probably one of our best batsmen against spin. We knew the spin threat they possess will be a huge factor. The shots he plays behind the wicket aren’t easy. We always knew he was going to come good at some stage,” Rohit said.
Also read: Imran Tahir Becomes Seventh Bowler To Take 300 T20 Wickets
Suryakumar Yadav also told about the pitch’s condition as they had enough idea how to chase the total.
“We spoke about it in the break that it was important for someone in the top three or four to bat till the end because the wicket was slow and turning and the later batsmen would not find it easy. After first innings I saw what happened, not too many players were able to hit the shots in the air. So I wanted to play down the ground, pick singles and doubles,” he added.
