Mumbai Indians (MI) lost their opening game of an IPL season for the 11th consecutive time on Sunday going down meekly to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Faf du Plessis' men chased down the target of 172 runs in just 16.1 overs while MI's inexperienced bowling line-up, despite the presence of Jofra Archer, got exposed on the evening. Clearly, they missed a bowler Jasprit Bumrah who has been out of action for almost a year now. Bumrah has missed quite a few big events now and is racing against time to get fit for even the upcoming ODI World Cup in India.
Rohit Sharma is quizzed about missing Bumrah almost everytime, while playing for India and MI as well. Opening up about the same, the MI skipper clarified that he has now got used to playing without his best bowler at international level and in IPL as well. However, he felt that the youngsters in the team will have to step up big time now.
"From the last six to eight months I am used to playing without Jasprit Bumrah. Of course this is a different setup but someone needs to put their hand up and step up. We can't keep dwelling on it. Injuries are not in our control, we can't do much about it. The other guys in the setup are quite talented as well. We need to give them that support. Just the first game of the season, there's a lot to look forward to," Rohit said after the match.
Having said that, Tilak Varma was one massive positive for the five-time champions in their first game. The youngster helped his side recover from a precarious position of 58/4 and helped them post a competitive score of 171 runs in their 20 overs. "He is a positive person, quite talented as well. Some of the shots he played, showed a lot of courage. Hats off to Tilak to get us to a competitive total. It was a good pitch to bat on. We didn’t set any target but we didn't even bat to half of our potential and we got to 170. Probably 30-40 runs more would have been ideal," Rohit added.
