Rohit Sharma came out in support of Rishabh Pant after the Delhi Capitals captain had a torrid day in the field in the crunch IPL 2022 clash against Mumbai Indians. With a playoffs place at stake, DC lost to MI by five wickets with the focus falling on Pant for a DRS mistake he made that came back to haunt the team. The DC skipper also dropped an absolute sitter in the 12th over to give Dewald Brevis a reprieve. Following the match, Rohit Sharma said that in a high-pressure tournament like the IPL, “little fumbles can happen” but backed Pant to come back strongly next season.
“He is a quality captain, there’s no doubt about it. In the past seasons we have seen how he has led his team. Sometimes things don’t go your way, it is as simple as that. I have been through these kind of situations before and I was just telling him about the same thing. These kind of things happen on the ground, sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. So, there is nothing wrong in it,” Rohit Sharma said in the virtual press-conference after the game.
“You can take a lot of learnings from all of this and try and keep things simple. He’s got a great mind, he reads the game well from behind. It’s a high pressure tournament and those little fumbles can happen. But it is important not to lose confidence and not to start doubting yourself. That is something I spoke to him about. He’s a confident guy, he’ll come back strong next season,” he added.
While Brevis’ dropped catch didn’t cost DC too much with the young South African batter being dismissed for 37 but the decision not to review a caught behind against Tim David came back to bite them in a big way.
David was on a duck when DC decided against taking the review. He went on to smash 34 runs off 11 balls to put MI in the driver’s seat. Mumbai Indians went on to win the game by five wickets, which ended DC’s hopes of making the playoffs. Instead, Royal Challengers Bangalore became the fourth and final team to enter the playoffs.
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Despite the win, MI finished at the bottom of the points table and Rohit looked back at the campaign.
“We were here to win the game. I know couple of teams were watching us keenly but for us it was important to get what we wanted to get out of this game to make sure that we finish on a high, and take some positives as well from this last game. Once we lost eight on the trot, it was tough. It’s never easy when you lose games like that. I thought we did well in the second half of the tournament,” said the MI captain.
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