Rohit Sharma on Tuesday allayed concerns over his fitness, saying his hamstring felt absolutely fine after the Mumbai Indians skipper returned to action from a two-week injury lay-off.
“I was happy to be back, it’s been a while. I was going through some tough times. I’m looking forward to playing a few more games here, let’s see what happens. Always nice to be on the ground doing what I love to do, very happy about it,” said Rohit at the post-match presentation after the 10-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
And when asked if the hamstring was completely fine, he said with a smile: “Yeah, absolutely”
Rohit missed the last four games before making a comeback on a day when BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, in an interview to PTI, advised not to rush his comeback from what he called a “hamstring tear”.
For the same injury, the Indian team selectors decided not to include Rohit in the squad for the Australia tour on a day when he returned to the Mumbai Indians nets, fuelling speculation on his fitness.
According to Mumbai Indians’ team management, Rohit suffered a hamstring strain in his left leg in the game against Kings XI Punjab on October 18.
When asked at the toss if everything was fit and fine, Rohit said: “Looks like that.”
Talking about the hammering Mumbai received at the hands of Sunrisers, Rohit said it was a game to forget ahead of the Qualifer 1 against Delhi Capitals on Thursday.
“Not the day we want to remember, probably our worst performance of the season. We wanted to try a few things, it didn’t go our way. We knew dew was going to play a factor and we wanted to take the toss out of consideration, but we didn’t play good cricket today,” he said.
Mumbai also rested key bowlers like Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah for the game.
The dew in the second innings once again made batting easier.
“They played good shots in the powerplay, and that helped them. If you take wickets in the powerplay, even if there is dew, it can put pressure on the opposition.
“It’s a very funny format. It’s always nice to forget what has happened, and focus on the present. They (Delhi) are a good side, so it will be a good challenge to face them,” added Rohit.
Watch the post-match interviews here: