Two-time winners Mumbai Indians have every reason to be upbeat going into the 10th season of the Indian Premier League.
The nucleus of the team which has guided them to their two title wins, still feature in key roles despite their age. Mumbai don’t have any major injury worries like some of the other franchises, and there is a belief that they have the most balanced squad in thew competition.
The Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise start their campaign against state rivals Rising Pune Supergiant at Pune. Skipper Rohit Sharma, who is making a full-fledged comeback after a four-month injury lay-off spoke about his team’s preparation before the start of the contest,
“We started our camp a couple of weeks back. There are only a couple of players who haven’t had game time in the middle. [West Indians] Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons were playing just two days ago elswehere and they arrived only a day ago,” said the Mumbai Indians skipper.
“Preparation has been good and we played a couple of practice matches in Mumbai,” Sharma said, reiterating the the vast amount of experience in his team’s ranks.
The 29-year-old, though, didn’t divulge details about what his batting position would be, and stated that he is ready to play in any position according to the team’s requirements,
“I make decisions according to the team’s requirement. Being the leader of the team, I have to set an example, whether it is batting up the order or elsewhere”
“It is important to understand the balance of the team. You’ll get to know [during the game] where I’ll be batting,” he said.