Published: Apr 07, 2016, 01:25 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 07, 2016, 01:35 PM (IST)
Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants are all set to open the account of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 on Saturday, April 9. But ahead of the game, MI held special conference comprising of head coach Ricky Ponting and MI skipper Rohit Sharma at Mumbai. Ponting during the conference made a special mention about Rohit being the best batsman in the world and how his influence in the team has helped them to lift the trophy twice so far. Ponting also mentioned how the team loves to play at their home ground with immense love from the crowd. After Jos Buttler’s performance in World T20, he is also impressed with Buttler in particular. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Mumbai Indians vs Rising Pune Supergiants, IPL 2016, Match 1 at Mumbai
Two key players of MI were not seen during the World T20 2016 tournament due to injury and one due to controversy with WICB. The questions remained unanswered as to whether these players will be playing for MI on Saturday. Pointing cleared the air and mentioned Malinga looks unlikely to be back in the squad, while Pollard will be included for the selection.READ: IPL 2016: Mumbai Indians tie up with Radio City 91.1 FM for 5th year in a row
As for all-rounders, Ponting is glad to have the Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal together in the same franchise. He also gave a special mention to Jasprit Bumrah with regards to his bowling spells in T20 games against Australia, Sri Lanka and Asia Cup T20 2016 with Bumrah deserving every accolade for his innings. Ponting is happy coaching MI and loves to do so purely for the love of cricket and how it has been passion for him since the age of 10. Ponting has put aside all the news of coaching internationally as his main aim is to concentrate on his family.
Ponting was sceptical regarding T20 cricket hampering other formats of cricket, but with the way the teams are performing in other formats and are creating the base for T20 cricket, his opinion has indeed changed and feels all three formats are taken seriously and played on same level.
