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Hyderabad, May 13
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma was well aware of Shardul Thakur’s range of shots and that’s why he wanted Lasith Malinga to bowl a slower delivery, which turned out to be a masterstroke in the IPL final.
Rohit had kept the on-side open to lure Thakur and then Malinga’s slow in-dipper tailed in to catch Thakur plumb in front as MI beat CSK by one run in a pulsating final. Having played first-class cricket for Mumbai with Thakur, Rohit knew how to bring about the youngster’s downfall. “The idea was to get the batsman out. I know Shardul really well. I kind of understand where he wants to hit, so we decided together (Malinga and him) that we’ll go for that slower option, because knowing Thakur, he would try to play a big shot and there might be a chance that he might just sky it. Again, it could have gone either way,” an elated Rohit said after the match.
Rohit was ready to carry the cross had the decision to use Malinga backfired but had a gut feeling that the Sri Lankan will be able to pull it off like Mitchell Johnson did in the 2017 IPL final. “When the decision comes off, it looks all nice. It can backfire also. At that stage, I wanted to go with experience, with somebody who has been in such situation before. And Malinga has been in that situation a million times. So we backed him to do that,” the four-time IPL champion skipper said.
MI take victory lap
Mumbai: It was celebration time for Mumbai Indians as their players took part in a victory parade in an open bus on the streets of south Mumbai. The celebrations continued on Monday with members of the squad and support staff travelling in an open bus from Antilla (the residence of Ambanis who own the team) to Trident (the team hotel) in south Mumbai, with fans lining up to cheer them on. — Agencies
Edulji wanted to give away IPL trophy but convention followed
The IPL prize distribution ceremony almost plunged into a controversy after CoA member Diana Edulji expressed her wish to give away the winners’ trophy, going against the convention. Eventually, as per existing convention, acting BCCI president CK Khanna handed over the winners’ trophy to MI captain Rohit Sharma. While the Committee of Administrators chief Vinod Rai did not attend the IPL final, the other two members — Edulji and Lt. Gen (retd) Ravi Thodge — were present in Hyderabad. Edulji gave away the winners’ trophy at the Women’s T20 Challenge in Jaipur and she wanted to give away the trophy here also. However, Khanna showed an e-mail from acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary to IPL COO Hemang Amin, stating that convention of BCCI president giving away the trophy could be followed. — IANS