Mumbai hit by Rohit’s absence

Raipur: Newly appointed Mumbai Indians skipper Kieron Pollard, on the eve of their first match against Lahore Lions, said that the absence of Rohit Sharma is a big hole to fill. “Of course it’s a big disappointment for us as a team. Rohit has led us well. He has been an integral part of our batting unit. So that hole is going to be very deep to fill. It’s something we have to look at. 

 

“Yes, obviously there’s going to be a change in the batting order, change in personnel, but the basics still apply in cricket — we have to play each ball on its merit and we have to play to situations. That’s what is important to us, to do the basics, and do what is right in order to come out on top at the end of the game,” he told CLT20.com. 

 

Will the IPL teams have an advantage over the other three teams who are T20 champions of their respective countries? “Yeah, you can say so — there are a lot of local guys and a lot of local knowledge here, so you can say that. But cricket is played on the day. You always say this team is going to win and pre-empt a lot of things, but when you look at it, our opponents in the next couple of days are from the subcontinent as well — a team from Sri Lanka and a team from Pakistan. So all things being even … when we play good cricket, we will give ourselves a better opportunity,” said Pollard. 

 

Pollard went on to add that big names in a team counts for nothing during the match day. “We can sit here and say we are a very good team, a star-studded team, a strong team, but all that counts for nothing if you don’t go out and perform at the end of the day. For us, it’s about having these guys, they have played for us in the IPL, they have always turned out for us and hopefully cricket comes first and we play cricket and not play names.”