IPL 2017 Final: I had confidence on my bowlers, admits ‘nervous’ Rohit Sharma after Mumbai Indians tournament triumph over Rising Pune Supergiant
I had confidence on my bowlers, admits ‘nervous’ Rohit after MI tournament triumph
Rohit Sharma has completed hat-trick of Indian Premier League (IPL) wins for Mumbai Indians (MI) as skipper. And with this win, Rohit has been a part of 4 IPL winning-sides out of 10 editions. He had won one tournament with Deccan Chargers (DC) in 2009. The final of IPL 2017 was too close for comfort and Rohit felt the heat as the skipper of Mumbai. After the 1-run victory, Rohit admitted he was very ‘nervous’ but also mentioned that he was “confident” with his bowlers. Full scorecard: RPS vs MI
Mumbai after being slumped to 79 for 7 in the 15th over and Krunal Pandya’s 47 guided them to 129. No team had defended score this low in an IPL final but Rohit remained confident of his army of bowlers, who have been excellent throughout the tournament and played a major role in ensuring their top of the table finish.
“I was quite nervous to be honest, but the guys pulled off a great game. To defend 130 was a great effort. I am very happy. We never needed to change our plan. If you take one wicket, two, three could come. We discussed about that. We bowled great variations. A lot of credit [goes] to the bowling unit. When you have bowlers like [Jasprit] Bumrah and [Lasith] Malinga in the side the belief is always there. Our spinners too, throughout the season, have been bowling well,” said a visibly nervous Rohit, who himself contributed with a crucial 22-ball 24.
But what was Rohit’s message to his bowlers after the dismal show with the bat? “Whenever you are defending a total like that, the first thing you have to do is believe. I told the boys if we could do it against KKR (MI had bowled out KKR for 107 in Qualifier 2) there was no way we could not do it here. There was assistance from the pitch too so it was a matter of exploiting the conditions. When three overs were left, I had confidence in the bowlers. They have always done the job wherever they have played. It was about giving freedom and I just told them to do whatever they want and set the field accordingly.”
MI bowlers had kept it tight and in the final 3 overs, Pune needed 30 to win. Those overs were to be bowled by Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Johnson. RPS, needing 11 of the final over with a well-set Steven Smith and Manoj Tiwary at the crease, claimed both men and gave away only 9.