MUMBAI (Reuters) – Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma’s barren spell with the bat and his team’s winless run continued on Saturday with the Indian Premier League’s most successful franchise slumping to their sixth defeat in as many matches in this season’s tournament.
Lucknow Super Giants, one of the two new teams in this season’s 10-team IPL, defeated Mumbai by 18 runs on Saturday to jump to second spot in the table.
Mumbai, who have won the cash-rich annual Twenty20 tournament a record five times, stayed rooted at the bottom with their hopes appearing dim for turning their season around and making the playoffs.
But Rohit, who leads India in all three formats, is not throwing in the towel yet.
“It is important to not completely look down. It is important to keep looking forward,” the 34-year-old said at the presentation.
“It’s not the end of the world. We have come back before. We will try and come back again.”
Lucknow opener and captain KL Rahul scored an unbeaten 103 on Saturday to anchor the innings, something that Rohit rued was missing for Mumbai this season.
Rohit’s lack of runs at the top of the order has compounded the problems for the franchise. He has not managed a fifty in the six matches, scoring a total of 114 runs at an average of 19 and a strike rate of 129.
“If I know it, probably I will do it,” Rohit said when asked if he knew what he needs to do differently.
“Honestly, I am trying to prepare myself in a way that I prepare for every game. It’s just not coming off. I take the full responsibly of not putting the team in that situation what they expect from me.
“I do understand the responsibility that I have as an individual, and as a player, which is something I have failed to do in the six games. But I back myself to go out there and enjoy my game and do what I have been doing all these years.”
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
