Will Rohit Sharma play next game against KKR? – MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene gives major update

Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene has given a major update on fitness of captain Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Hardik Pandya. The duo had missed out on the match against Chennai Super Kings which was played in Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. All-rounder Kieron Pollard led the team in Rohit absence but MI lost the game by 20 runs.

Addressing a virtual press conference after the match, MI head coach Jayawardene said Rohit was given some ‘extra days’ to get back in action and will be available for their next face-off against Kolkata Knight Riders. 

“Rohit was batting and doing his running, after coming back from the UK, we probably felt he needed extra few days so he should be fine to play the next game. Hardik was training, had a niggle, so precaution and giving him extra days, not nothing serious,” said Jayawardene during a virtual post-match presser.

Talking about Mumbai Indians' batting, Jayawardene said: “Not really, I mean we struggled in Chennai in the first half as we did not get used to the conditions. Here also, you know, it was not the easiest wicket, but probably needed some application. I put it down to game awareness and taking responsibility. The application out there is something we need to work on.”

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All-rounder Dwayne Bravo scalped three wickets and Deepak Chahar took two for CSK. For MI, Saurabh Tiwary was the highest scorer after playing a knock of 50 runs. With this win, Chennai Super Kings went to the top of the IPL table while Mumbai is now in danger of falling outside the top 4 if they get on a losing streak.

“Well, I think the pitch was not doing much, to be honest, in the second innings, the wicket was pretty good. The odd one sat up a little bit. I agree we probably gave a couple of soft dismissals, we probably needed someone to take responsibility and bat through the innings which we did not do. That was the difference with CSK with Ruturaj Gaikwad doing that for them,” said Jayawardene.

“Even though they lost wickets there was a set batsman who went till the end. We are disappointed with how we handled the situation,” he added.

Gaikwad had played an unbeaten inning of 88 runs as the MS Dhoni-led outfit posted 156/6 in the allotted twenty overs after being 24/4 inside the powerplay.

Mumbai Indians will next lock horns against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday.

(With ANI Inputs)