Dubai: Rohit Sharma, the talismanic captain of Mumbai Indians, said he did not see himself switching over to any other franchise during his playing career in the IPL.
It was an innocuous question during a media briefing before the IPL final on Tuesday against Delhi Capitals which threw up the team loyalist in Rohit Sharma. Asked how he would have captained a rival team against MI, who were virtually invincible this season, the four-time IPL winning captain said: “Firstly, it is never going to happen. I am never going to go in the opposition’s camp and captain the other team against Mumbai Indians. But looking at the squad, the strength, and the balance of this team, I cannot point out anything.
‘‘And it is not rocket science, we have worked really hard for this balance... A lot of credit goes to the Mumbai Indians team management, the scout, they have done a great job with all these guys, making sure they get that comfort and get that backing,” the ‘Hit-man’ said.
Speaking about their chances in the final against an opponent whom Mumbai have beaten thrice already in the 2020 edition, Rohit said they would have have to approach it with a clean slate as in IPL, ‘‘every game is a new game.’’
“There will be a little bit of psychological advantage. Yes. But what we have seen with IPL is that every day is a fresh day and every game is a new game. So, you cannot think too much about what happened in the past. Of course, you can take confidence from the past but you cannot dwell on that,” he said.
Despite Sharma, the fourth highest scorer in the history of IPL, not being in the best of form - not to speak of the hamstring injury which sidelined him for four-matches - it hardly affected the team’s performance. ‘‘We made it very clear at the start of the tournament that we don’t want to depend on any one individual, for what happens if he is a heavy performer and he gets injured?,’’ the skipper said.
Is there a possibility of him employing a hidden ace in the pack, like off spinner-allrounder Jayant Yadav? ‘‘Why not? They (Delhi) have a number of left-handers and Jayant will be a good option. He has played for that franchise and knows their mindset,’’ he added.
