Mumbai Indians had a break of five days after their 20-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring Indian Premier League in Mumbai and captain Rohit Sharma said on Thursday that the short respite was very helpful in recharging their batteries.
"The break was important as we had been on the road for a while and some of us had played cricket for one and a half to two months. We were off cricket for two days and started training yesterday. We hope to recapture the winning momentum tomorrow," said Sharma on the eve of their key match against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Mumbai have won only two of their seven games so far but the India batsman is confident that they have a good chance to make the play-offs from this difficult situation.
"I don't see any reason why we cannot turn it around. We have notched up the highest score in this IPL season and the other day we defended 157. We need to focus on performing every time. We need to concentrate on performing as a unit," said Sharma.
He was referring to the score of 209 for seven put up by Mumbai against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 19 in an away game and their victory over Sunrisers in the previous game when they scored 157 for eight and won the match by stopping their rivals at 137 for eight.
Sharma does not agree that Mumbai's opening combinations, after he had moved down to number four, have not been up to the mark.
"We are satisfied with Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons, who has already scored two half centuries. It all depends on what kind of start is given in the first six overs. They have given a decent start, especially in the last two games. Parthiv may not have gone on to a bigger score after getting a start but he is batting well and he knows it," Sharma said.
Sharma also stated that the team has very little reason to change its winning eleven, to indicate that new recruits Ben Hilfenhaus of Australia and Colin Munro of New Zealand will have to wait for their turn.
"Hilfenhaus has played in IPL in the past (for Chennai Super Kings) while Munro has a big reputation in T20 cricket. But I don't see any need to change the outfit," said Sharma.
Hilfenhaus and Munro have replaced injured original recruits Aaron Finch of Australia and Corey Anderson of New Zealand who could not take any further part in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Wankhede Stadium pitch curator Sudhir Naik said that Mumbai's chief coach Ricky Ponting had expressed his happiness at the type of track the team's first home game was played on against Kings XI Punjab on April 12 and wants the same type of track to be prepared for all their home games.
"He said it was a very good T20 wicket and that he wants the same type of track to be prepared for all the games here," said Naik.
Mumbai lost to Punjab by 18 runs and by six wickets against Chennai Super Kings on April 17 before stopping the losing streak at home against Sunrisers.
