Rohit Sharma and his Mumbai Indians team are set to take on the other 9 franchises as they make a bid to claim a sixth IPL trophy this season.
Two days out from the start of the tournament, Sharma had a strong message for MI fans. In an Instagram video uploaded on the official Mumbai Indians handle, Rohit Sharma addressed the fans, sharing his views about the upcoming season, ready to build once again a strong team with most of the squad revamped.
Sharma assured MI fans that they are leaving no stone unturned in their preparations.
“Paltan! How are you? We are back with a new season. We have a new team with a lot of new faces. It is a fresh challenge. We are quite looking forward to it. We leave no stone unturned,” Sharma said boldly.
You can watch the video here:
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Mumbai Indians are the most successful side in the IPL history with 5 titles under their belt, followed by CSK who have four IPL trophies in their cabinet.
Mumbai retained Rohit, Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard ahead of the mega-auction, in which they also managed to buy back Ishan Kishan, albeit for a hefty price of 15.25 crore. Other than these players, the entire squad is revamped with new faces.
Head coach Mahela Jayawardene compared this current scenario – most of the new players in the squad – to the situation after the 2018 mega-auction.
Speaking in a virtual press conference, Jayawardene said, “We had Bumrah and a completely new bowling attack and we had to rebuild. But I think our planning and the way we approach the opposition is not going to change. What will change is, because of the new bowlers, their strengths are different to the bowlers we had in the last three years. We always work with the strength of the bowlers and see how we can adjust to that, given the opposition and the conditions.”
He reckoned the senior players who are retained will have to make the new ones feel comfortable in the Mumbai Indians environment.
“So nothing changes for guys like Rohit, Polly, Bumrah and now with Ishan and Surya. So I think they will do most of the work, of getting these guys to that level of playing and making them calmer out there, making them much more comfortable and creating that environment on and off the field,” the head coach stated.
Mumbai Indians play their first match on March 27, against Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne Stadium.
