CHENNAI: Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma expressed his disappointment after the defending champions lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural tie of the 2021 Indian Premier League on Friday.
After RCB won by two wickets, the Indian team vice-captain said the tournament was a long one and that his team will bounce back.
Rohit admitted that his side were some runs short and believed that was one of the prime reasons behind the loss.
"I thought it was a great effort and good fight till the end. I thought we were 20 runs short with the kind of start we got. We made some mistakes in the first game, bound to happen,'' he said.
A major turning point in the match was when Rohit got run out after a mix-up with Chris Lynn.
"Look, obviously I was a bit nervous, no doubt about it. It was my first game for Mumbai and it was the first time I was batting with Rohit as well. It happens in the game of cricket as well. I thought there was a run and then obviously there wasn't a run. But yeah, if I had been able to run past him and sacrifice my wicket, I definitely would have done that, but it wasn't the case,'' said Lynn.
He added: "As I said, it happens, but yeah, I put just a little bit more pressure on myself. It's not ideal, running out your captain in the first game. But anyhow, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, happens in the game. It would have been nice if the run-out didn't happen as Rohit was striking the ball nicely, and we were 10 or 15 runs short in the end. Rohit would have definitely made a difference, but there were plenty of factors in this game tonight, not just the run-out."
Rohit identified the positives in the defeat. He was happy that his team found a quality bowler in 20-year old Marco Jansen. The South African picked up two wickets including that of Glenn Maxwell.
"He's (Jansen) a talent we have identified to bowl in any situation. We wanted to get wickets when AB and Daniel Christian were batting, which is why we went with Bumrah and Boult. Unfortunately, it didn't work. It's definitely not an easy pitch to bat on. We need to identify the situations and get variations. AB was brilliant and got them home," observed Rohit Sharma.
Meanwhile, Lynn felt that his team perhaps missed a trick by not having a sixth bowling option.
After bowling against England for India in March, Hardik Pandya did not even bowl a single over against RCB.
"It is more precautionary, he (Hardik) has played a fair bit of cricket leading into this tournament. We have 14 games as well so you do not want to throw all your eggs in one basket and risk the injury if it is a shoulder. If Hardik gets back to bowling, it adds another dimension to our team," said Lynn.