Crediting the backroom staff for Mumbai Indians’ successful Champions League Twenty20 campaign, skipper Rohit Sharma claimed the franchise’s coaches made his job “easier.”
“John Wright has worked with the Indian team for so long, he knows the Indian mentality. Then there were Anil Kumble, Robin Singh and Jonty Rhodes. I didn’t have too much of a problem in making plans. They were the ones working behind the scenes on strategies. They really helped me,” said the 26-year-old.
When asked to describe the sentiment within the team after suffering a pasting from the Rajasthan Royals batsmen in the opening 10 overs, the captain claimed his players never panicked.
Rohit was particularly impressed by Harbhajan Singh and Glenn Maxwell.
“I was not worried about Harbhajan’s recent form. I knew he would deliver for us in a big match.
“Maxwell wanted to prove something from the first ball. It is not easy to sit on the sidelines. We knew batting will be the key here, so, we included him in the side,” added Rohit.
Rajasthan Royals coach Paddy Upton claimed the difference between the two sides was the failure of his “back-end” batsmen who failed to drive home the benefits of a good start.
“In a final, it’s about who makes less mistakes. I think it was an unusual final as so many Mumbai players played quite remarkable cricket. We wanted to restrict them to 160-170. For the first 15 overs, our batsmen matched them. If someone had stayed with (Ajinkya) Rahane for another 15-18 balls, Rahul Dravid would have been sitting in my place.”
When asked to explain RR’s decision to field first, Upton said that his side was more comfortable chasing due to its successful record.
Correction
In the Sports page report, “Rohit all praise for backroom staff” (Oct. 8, 2013), a sentence in the penultimate paragraph read: “If someone had stayed with (Ajinkya) Rahane for another 15-18 balls, Rohit would have been sitting in my place.” It should have said: “…Rahul Dravid would have been sitting …”
