Swashbuckling opener Rohit Sharma opened up on his experience of playing Mumbai Indians ahead of the upcoming season. Rohit has led Mumbai Indians to record five IPL titles and the 2023 season will mark ten-year anniversary of the Hitman leading the Mumbai-based franchise. Rohit started his IPL journey with Deccan Chargers and joined MI in 2011 and became an integral part of the set-up straightaway
The 35-year-old led the Mumbai Indians for the first time in IPL 2013 and he led them to glory in his debut season as captain. Ahead of the upcoming season, Rohit spoke about his long association with the franchise and said that he had loved every single moment of the journey.
“10 years is a long time. Obviously, you are bound to create a lot of memories in 10 years in that period. I have certainly enjoyed each and every moment of it. If you ask me to single out a memory, I won’t be able to do that because it is tough,” Rohit said.
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The swashbuckling opener said he has grown as an individual as well as a leader while playing for Mumbai Indians over the years.
“We have played some really good cricket over the years. My experience with this team has been phenomenal. This team has given me a great opportunity to come out and express myself, first as a player and then as a leader. I have certainly grown as an individual and as a leader being a part of this team. MI has given me a great opportunity to showcase myself in a different avatar,” he said speaking about his long and successful relationship with the franchise.
While most of the domestic Indian players have been a part of the pre-season camp, the overseas and India nationals have only joined the team over the past few days.
Mark Boucher, who will be coaching the team for the first time, said that the squad will play a couple of practice matches now that all the players are with the team. He also said that the team had prepared extensively for the season ahead.
“Tonight we will be playing another game, so it will give us a good idea of where we are as a squad and what we can achieve. Other than that, all our preparation has been going according to plan,” he said.
Rohit also touched upon the importance of the pre-season camp, saying, “We don’t see the local, domestic Indian players much. That is why we hold a pre-season camp before the tournament starts to understand some of these guys. A lot of the guys who are a part of this team, we know them pretty well now. It’s just about finding the tight combination with a couple of new rules coming in and field your best players on the ground.”
When asked about the team’s goal for the season, coach Boucher had an emphatic answer, “Win the trophy.”
Rohit then explained how the team is focused on breaking the tournament down into stages and setting short-term goals in order to emerge victorious. “Of course that’s the end goal but we need to do a lot of things right to get there. IPL is such a long tournament, it goes on for close to two months and you have to play 16-17 games to hold that trophy and we do understand what it requires to do that. The focus of the team will obviously be to break it down into two halves or three parts of the tournament and see where we stand and take things forward from there.”
Boucher said that his integration into the MI set up has been seamless. “It has been very good so far. It is completely different to coaching in international cricket. I get to spend more time at home, which is nice. The sort of professionalism that Mumbai Indians show and the attention to detail has been exemplary. The support staff has been fantastic as well. I’m well aware that I need to deliver the results and hopefully we can get them. I set myself high standards and it’ll be the same for the players as well. I’m not here to get the third place or fourth place, I’m here to win. I have been given everything that I want, so from that perspective, it has been great.”
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