Rohit Sharma: We do not have “added advantage” in the IPL

Rohit Sharma speaks to the media before the commencement of Tata IPL 2022

Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians skipper, had a virtual press conference on Wednesday where he spoke about his team and gives an update on Suryakumar Yadav.

Speaking to the media, Rohit Sharma said that since it is a new team, Mumbai Indians do not have a home advantage. Many of the players are yet to play at the grounds.

He said “I hope you saw the auction, relatively new team, lot of new guys have come into the team, so I don’t believe in added advantage because these guys, like lot of the guys 70 (or) 80 percent of the squad has not played in Bombay before, so there is no such thing as added advantage.”

This years IPL matches are to be played at Wankhede, DY Patil, Brabourne and MCA International Stadium, Pune.

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He added that “only myself, Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), (Kieron) Pollard, Ishan (Kishan), (Jasprit) Bumrah have played in Bombay a lot. Others have not played, so there is no such thing as added advantage,” he reiterated.

“We all are playing in Bombay after two years, we have not played a single game in Mumbai, in fact the other franchises have played in Bombay last year, we didn’t get to play, so no advantage,” Rohit maintained.

The 5 times IPL winning champion also gave an update on Suryakumar Yadav.

He said“Surya is at NCA at the moment, he is recovering well, he will be here soon and I can’t give you his availability now, whether he will be available for first game or not, but we are trying to get him as soon as possible, once we have the clearance from the NCA.”

Rohit Sharma also clarified that it will be him and Ishan Kishan who will open the batting for the Mumbai based franchise.

The added DRS was welcomed by the Mumbai Indians skipper.

He stated that “having two DRS is also a good rule, because fewer mistakes in the game, the better it is. In international cricket we play with two DRS, so it should be there in the IPL, so I think it is a good move to bring two DRS by the IPL.”

Rohit also mentioned that he is not particularly stressed by the fact that it is a new format this year, with 10 teams competing for the title.

It’s a format that we played in 2011. To be honest, nothing really changes in terms of planning. You have to play the opposition — some you will play only once or some twice.

“There’s not too many changes that we need to make, it’s just that you will be playing certain teams only once, so you need to be prepared because there is no coming back. You need to plan well against those guys, ensure that your bases are covered,” he signed off.

The first match of the season will be played at Wankhede, when CSK meet KKR on 26th March.

As for Mumbai Indians, they kickstart their title charge against Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne stadium on 27th March.