IPL 2017 | MI vs SRH: This defeat is an eye-opener, says Rohit Sharma

Despite qualifying for the play-offs, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma after his team’s defeat against Surisers Hyderabad on Monday said that this defeat is an eye-opener.

Known for chasing huge targets, Mumbai Indians opted to bat first against the defending champions but they could only manage to score 138 runs.

Rohit during the presentation ceremony said, “We just wanted to try something different by batting first today and it did not pay off. Batting second was much easier, but 138 is too less. If you don’t take wickets, it’s always going to be hard. It’s an eye-opener for us on what to do when we bat first, what to do in the first six overs and little things like that.”

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“We could be put into bat, it won’t always be in our favour, so we have a lot of learning from this loss. We knew the wicket wasn’t easy but we got nowhere near a good score. Sunrisers bowled well and kept us guessing,” the skipper further added.

“Everything went to plan” – this is what Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner had to say after the match.

“Credit to the bowlers, they did the job and gave us a small total to chase. I asked one of top four to go through the end of the game and they did that. I just thought up front with their left handers and with the long boundary and breeze, I bowled Nabi. It was a bit of a hit-or-miss, but it paid off tonight. We just treat every game as a knockout game,” Warner said.

The ‘Man-of-the-match’ was awarded to Shikhar Dhawan for scoring unbeaten 62 runs. “It was an important game. The plan was that I have to stay at the crease as long as possible. Moises also played a good knock. I’ve been feeling good. I was working on consistency when I had a few quiet months. I worked at it and all the heart I’ve put into it has worked out now, so I’m happy,” Dhawan said.

With inputs from PTI.

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