Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene shared a fitness update on star batter Rohit Sharma, who missed the game against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) due to a knee injury. Rohit copped a blow to his knee ahead of Friday’s game at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. “Rohit was hit on the knee. He is missing out,” Hardik said confirming the former captain’s unavailability for the game. However, after the match, Jayawardene broke silence on Rohit’s injury, saying that the latter was struggling to bat after undergoing a fitness test before the match.
“Rohit got a hit on his knee just in the IT band and he tried to bat yesterday, couldn’t put any weight on it so again he came and did a fitness test early today to try and it was discomfort for him to bat, put weight on that so he felt that it wasn’t 100% for him to play this game so that’s why we precautioned,” Jayawardene said during the post-match press conference.
With MI set to take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their next match on Monday, Rohit’s progress will be monitored, hoping for a positive update.
“We thought give him a few more days to try and get through that unfortunate what happened in the nets,” he added.
On being asked if Rohit can play as an impact sub, Jayawardene gave a no nonsense reply.
“I mean this is, the impact and regular there’s not much of a change, it’s a regular, it’s just we’re taking a guy out and bringing a guy in so we’re technically playing it 12 so you shouldn’t read too much into it, it’s just who we impact, who we out is entirely up to us on a tactical basis,” Jayawardene explained.
Rohit’s form has been a point of concern in the early stages of the tournament. In the three matches he has played so far, the veteran opener has managed 21 runs.
He was dismissed for a duck in the season opener against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), followed by scores of 8 against Gujarat Titans (GT) and 13 against reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
At the toss, Hardik also provided a brief update on pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who has been recovering from a back-related injury.
“Jasprit should be back soon,” said the MI captain, raising hopes of the star fast bowler’s return in the coming fixtures.
Mumbai Indians have had a mixed start to the season and will be hoping for both Rohit and Bumrah to return to full fitness soon, as they look to build momentum in the tournament.
(With ANI Inputs)
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