Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday confirmed that he will open the batting alongside Ishan Kishan in the upcoming season of the tournament.
He also said that batsman Suryakumar Yadav is still recovering from an injury sustained in the T20I series against West Indies in February at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Rohit said I will open the batting. I have been doing this before, so I want to open the batting with Ishan Kishan. Surya is currently in the NCA. He is doing well.
He will be here soon. I can’t tell you its availability right now. Whether he will be there to play the first match or not. But after getting clearance from NCA, we are trying to bring them here as soon as possible.
Sharma dismissed suggestions that Mumbai would have an edge over other teams in the tournament by playing matches in their home city.
Mumbai last played a match in their home town in May 2019, where they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium to enter the play-offs and eventually win the trophy.
Also Read: TATA IPL 2022: CSK skipper MS Dhoni may not retirement after IPL 2022, Fans get excited| know More
Rohit Sharma Latest Press Conference
“It is a relatively new team, a lot of new players have come into the team. I don’t believe in added advantage because 70-80 per cent of the team has not played in Mumbai before.
Therefore, there is no such thing that will give us an advantage. Only me, Suriya, Pollard, Ishaan and Bumrah have played more matches in Mumbai and others haven’t.
Sharma further felt that Mumbai’s style of preparation would not change with new teams Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans entering the IPL and pointed to the 2022 season, which has the same format as the 2011 season.
Sharma welcomed the new rules such as legal dismissal of a run-out batsman from the non-striker’s end, the new batsman taking strike despite crossovers and the DRS review being increased to two per team.
“Look, that rule (mankading) has become legal, so the batsmen will need to pay more attention to when to come out of the crease and when not to. These are very simple rules and we have to follow them.