Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday said they will have no ”added advantage” of playing their IPL 2022 matches in the city’s three grounds as many in the ”relatively new team” have not played a single game in Mumbai in the last two years.
The IPL 2022 begins at the Wankhede Stadium with a clash between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday.
”I hope you saw the auction, relatively new team, lot of new guys have come into the team, so I don’t believe in added advantage because these guys, like lot of the guys 70 (or) 80 percent of the squad has not played in Bombay before,” Rohit said at a virtual press conference.
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Paltan, block your dates as we start our #TATAIPL campaign from March against @DelhiCapitals #OneFamily #MumbaiIndians @ishankishan51 @Jaspritbumrah93 @ImRo45 @surya_14kumar @KieronPollard55 pic.twitter.com/NynzwK6xg5
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”So there is no such thing as added advantage,” the five-time IPL winning captain added.
The league phase of the IPL 2022 will be held in Mumbai and Pune. Mumbai have been playing their home games at the Wankhede Stadium since the start of the tournament in 2008.
”Only myself, Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), (Kieron) Pollard, Ishan (Kishan), (Jasprit) Bumrah have played in Bombay a lot. Others have not played, so there is no such thing as added advantage,” he reiterated.
”We all are playing in Bombay after two years, we have not played a single game in Mumbai, in fact the other franchises have played in Bombay last year, we didn’t get to play, so no advantage,” Rohit maintained.
Welcomes extra DRS
Rohit also welcomed the move to have two DRS per innings in the forthcoming season.
”Look, that (Mankading) has become legal, so batters will need to pay more attention, when to come out of the crease and when not, so it is very simple, the rules have come and we need to follow them.
”Secondly, I think it is a good rule, the new batsman should face (the ball) if the batsman gets out, it is important that a bowler is bowling in good rhythm and he gets a wicket, a new batter faces him, especially when he catches out.
”It is a good opportunity for the opposition to keep up the pressure.”
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He added, ”Having two DRS is also a good rule, because fewer mistakes in the game, the better it is. In international cricket we play with two DRS, so it should be there in the IPL, so I think it is a good move to bring two DRS by the IPL.”
With the IPL being a 10-team affair this time, the franchises will be playing a different format, but Rohit maintained that nothing changes for the team in terms of planning.
”It’s a format that we played in 2011. To be honest, nothing really changes in terms of planning. You have to play the opposition — some you will play only once or some twice.
”There’s not too many changes that we need to make, it’s just that you will be playing certain teams only once, so you need to be prepared because there is no coming back. You need to plan well against those guys, ensure that your bases are covered,” he signed off.
Meanwhile, head coach Mahela Jayawardene heaped praise on MI’s young recruit, Dewald Brewis.
”We haven’t finalized (the top order), it is too early for us to give that information. But very excited to see him (Brewis) in the nets, he is a very committed young man and he is quite keen to learn and that is a good sign to see,” said Jayawardane.
MI squad for IPL 2022: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Basil Thampi, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, N Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, Jofra Archer, Daniel Sams, Tymal Mills, Tim David, Riley Meredith, Mohammad Arshad Khan, Anmolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Aryan Juyal, Fabian Allen.
