Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardi said on Monday that the decision to use Rohit Sharma as a ‘impact sub’ was not a pre-meditation, but it was taken since the team felt the need of the players who could bowl and be in a hurry in the field. Jayawardene said Rohit was also swallowing one of India’s winning campaign in the Champions Trophy. “No, it was not in the beginning. Obviously, RO (Rohit) was on the field in some sports,” Jayawardane said during the MI training session that it was asked if it was a plan since the start of the season.
“But if you look at the team’s creation, most people are playing dual roles; Most of them are bowling. Also, some places require border runners, you need motion people and all of this also comes to play.
He said, “RO was also doing a nursing from the Champions Trophy, so we wanted to make sure that we do not push him very hard, and we have managed that while (his) batting is the most important thing,” he said.
Jayawardene said that Rohit has contributed otherwise “tremendous” both on the field and outside.
“If you have seen, he has always been in the dugout, or he goes during the timeout, and there is a lot of communication that is happening, so actively involved.” Jayawardene admitted that MI had successful as an early pair from Rohit and Ryan Ricelton.
“For any team, openers play a very valuable role in establishing an innings and especially with a batting lineup, which we have, the way we start a good start, the way we make a good start, it is always complementary for it,” he said.
“This is just that even though RO, perhaps (these) in the last few years, he was not near those big scores, but he was trying to give us that inspiration – even though I was in the head coach, I was watching – he used to use those quick 20 or 30s, but could not convert.” Jayawardene said that the bowling speed of Jasprit Bumrah has shown a spike upwards.
He said, “He made a good recovery and it did not take him long to get into the stride. It is a good thing about the Jasprit that he has got a lot of control, believing how he wants to go and he gives us a completely different dimension to the attack,” he said.
“That’s fine, nothing is wrong with him. We have monitored him, his speed is getting better and better, so execution is better, we saw that even in the previous game, he was quite aggressive and how he wanted to go about it,” Jayverdin said.
Former Sri Lankan Skipper said that playing two of his last three matches at home will help Mumbai Indians as they push for the final-for Finnish, but refused to watch Tuesday’s game as a proposal for a knockout clash.
“When I saw the schedule, I knew that playing his last two matches of the three at home was clearly a good thing. We were starting from home, so we knew that it could come in the game, and it has come to play.
He said, “I have not thought about the playoffs. There are five (or) six teams with KKR, winning tomorrow (Sunday), so there are different sequences, and I am not going through it, how everything is going to be revealed,” he said.
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