It’s been a tough journey for MI, says Rohit
Sachin Tendulkar’s decision to retire from the Mumbai Indians colours following their win over the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL-6 final in Kolkata on Sunday may have denied many from seeing their favourite cricketer on the field for one last time in the franchise’s jersey.
The 40-year-old may however, still turn up for the Champions League T20 later this year like his former India teammate Rahul Dravid — skipper of the Rajasthan Royals, who announced his retirement on Friday but said he would play the CLT20.
“We actually did not get much time to talk about it. I mean, you guys must have seen it on TV, the moment that last ball was bowled, we were running all round, celebrating. He was also enjoying the celebrations. It shows how much the trophy means to him. Champions League is four months from now. I really don’t know what is gonna happen,” MI skipper Rohit Sharma said on whether the Master Blaster would participate in the tournament.
Tendulkar announced his retirement from one-day internationals towards the end of last year, then too, not on the field.
He was later asked on TV after making the announcement if he would be tempted into playing one last match in the IPL when the season kicks off at the Wankhede, his home ground, and replied in the negative.
“I think this is the best point to say ‘thank you very much’ to all the supporters and well-wishers,” he said after taking victory lap around the ground with wife Anjali and daughter Sara.
For Sharma though, elevation to the MI captaincy has done wonders for the team and himself after his frustrating flirtations with bating success, and the 26-year-old said he would derive a lot of confidence from this triumph while representing India. “Right from Day One that I was given the responsibility of captaining the side, it has been a great journey. It has not been easy, the moment it came to me when we had lost a couple of games in Jaipur and Delhi. There were lot of ups and downs while coming to the final and we knew it was going to be a tough game but we fought really hard. I am very happy with the performance,” Sharma said.
Sharma has a had a lengthy discussion with Kieron Pollard before the final ball even though MI had sealed the match and had asked wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik to keep his thoughts to his own with a finger on the lips in the same over but disagreed that he was some sort of a taskmaster as a skipper.
“It’s always good to have thoughts flowing around and it’s really up to me to decide what I want to do. Being a leader, I have to make the changes. I think I handled the situation really well. It was crucial moment and we did not wanted to give them easy runs, so we had a slight discussion there. I like to keep it very simple, don’t like to complicate things too much and that’s been my strength, to stay calm and composed (as a skipper).”
Sharma was all praise for Lasith Malinga, who gave them the kind of start they needed.
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