Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma interacting with his wife Ritika Sajdeh after the team’s thrilling last ball win over Delhi Capitals (DC) at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday, April 11. The IM captain told Ritika that he was so nervous towards the end because he didn’t see last time and went in.
Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals by six wickets to record their first win of IPL 2023. Batting first, Delhi put 172 all-out on the board. In response, Rohit scored maximum with 65 from 45 balls while Tilak Varma contributed 41 from 29 balls to put MI in a dominant position.
The Delhi bowlers, however, fought back and took the game to the last over. An unbroken sixth wicket stand of 30 between Cameron Green (17*) and Tim David (13*) brought MI to goal in a last-match finish. After the conclusion of the game, Rohit had a video call with his wife Ritika. He told her frankly:
“I feel good. I went in, I didn’t want to see the last man. My nails are gone. I have been a part of this kind of games a lot in these 15 years of IPL.”
MI needed five runs from the last over. However, Anrich Nortje bowled five yorkers to bring the equation to two from the last ball. Green and David ran two in the last installment to lead Mumbai to a memorable win.
“When I went to bat, I thought I needed to make full use of the power play” – Rohit Sharma
Chasing 173, Rohit was aggressive from the start of his innings. He had run to 37 of 17 by the end of the power play. Admitting that it was a conscious decision to go hard in the Delhi bowling, the MI skipper explained:
“When I went to bat, I thought I needed to make full use of the power play because as the game went on, I thought it was going to be tough with the couple of quality spinners they had.” [Delhi Capitals] have.
“So it was in my mind to keep attacking, take a chance in the first six overs, and then see where the game goes, try to hit the ball into the gap, try to create that partnership.”
Rohit and fellow opener Ishan Kishan (36 for 21) added 71 runs for the first wicket in 7.3 overs. The MI skipper and Varma then appeared in a 68-run stand for the second wicket.