IPL 10: Benching big names is not to disappoint anyone, remarks Rohit Sharma

The Mumbai Indians have emerged as the team to beat this season. They had a brilliant winning streak of 6 consecutive games that set them at the top of the points table. Now, they are in a position from where all they need to do is to win 2 more games to qualify for the playoffs. Skipper Rohit Sharma is a mighty pleased man with the efforts of his team in the season so far.

One thing that has worked really well for the MI camp is their strong playing eleven. All players have chipped in vital contributions and everyone has contributed to the team’s cause. Moreover, the skipper and the team management has not been afraid to take bold calls. They have benched the big names when needed and that has worked wonders for them.

In a recent conversation with Times of India, Rohit Sharma was asked about this brave call of benching the big names in the season. MI benched Harbhajan Singh in the tournament opener for them and recently have drafted out Lasith Malinga after two poor games. Rohit said that the decisions were made keeping the best interests of the team. Also, they felt Malinga needed a bit of a break and hence gave Mitchell Johnson a go.

“It’s only in the best interest of the team. Nothing to disappoint anyone. In the first game (at Pune), we noticed there was a good amount of grass covering and a good carry – that’s what all of us thought and we went ahead with that decision (to bench Harbhajan). Malinga has been under the weather for the last few weeks actually. He was playing in Sri Lanka and then he arrived here without a break, so we decided to check what Mitch (Johnson) has in store for us,” quoted Rohit Sharma.

Also, the Mumbai Indians have made it a habit of unearthing new talents every year. Ever since the first edition of the tournament when Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary had become household names, the team has come a long way. In the last couple of seasons they had the Pandya brothers coming to the for. This year, it has been Nitish Rana who has been doing the job for them till now. He has emerged as the biggest positive for them.

“The domestic season that went by, a lot of people were talking about Nitish and how he was going about. Last year, Nitish played the fag end of the tournament for us and in the last game he scored 70-odd runs off just 36 balls. We didn’t qualify, but we knew what he was capable of,” he quoted.

Adding further, Rohit remarked that it is the team management that does the task of finding raw talents in the domestic circuit.

“As I said, the rest is all about giving individuals their space, let them be themselves, go out and enjoy. That aside, the credit here has to go to our scouting group that was quick to realize it. Guys like Robin Singh, John Wright, Rahul Sanghvi – they’re the guys who’re always on the hunt, scouting for young talent,” he added further.