Mumbai: Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma attributed their nine-wicket loss against Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League (IPL) opener to poor batting and said his team needs to learn from this defeat and perform better in upcoming games.
Batting first, Mumbai were restricted to 121/8 in 20 overs, thanks to a superb bowling performance by Pune. Harbhajan Singh (45 not out) was the top scorer for the home side.
In reply, riding on Ajinkya Rahane’s unbeaten 66, Pune chased down the target comfortably, losing just one wicket, posting 126/1 in 14.4 overs.
“Pitch looked okay. We didn’t bat well to be honest. 121 is never going to be enough against a batting line-up like Pune. Lot to learn from this game,” Rohit said after the loss at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.
Ishant Sharma and Mitchell Marsh picked two wickets each and Ravichandran Ashwin, Rajat Bhatia, Murugan Ashwin and R.P. Singh claimed one each for Pune to restrict Mumbai to a low score.
Mumbai next face Kolkata Knight Riders on April 13 at the Eden Gardens and Rohit hoped their good form in Kolkata will earn them their first win of the season.
“Hopefully we’ll go back and come with a positive frame of mind. Never thought the ball would do that much having played a lot of cricket here. They swung it a lot and our shot selection wasn’t great. We go to Kolkata from here where we have good memories — we have won two titles there. It’s just the start of the tournament, no need to panic,” Rohit said.
–IANS