IPL 2022 | We haven't batted well enough in the tournament: Rohit Sharma

It has been a sorry state of affairs for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League. They have lost eight matches on the trot in a season and became the first team in the tournament's history to achieve this unwanted record.

In their recent league match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Wankhede Stadium on April 24, they lost by 36 runs and became the first team to bow out of the tournament. Although Mumbai Indians kept things tight in the first six overs, they eventually allowed the LSG batters to break free, and as a result, the team from Lucknow posted a competitive total of 168.

Chasing 169, MI stuttered with failures of Ishan Kishan (8 off 20) and Dewald Brevis (3 off 5). While captain Rohit Sharma did well to contribute 39 off 31 balls, the other batters, apart from Tilak Varma, failed to put up a valiant fight.

In the latest interaction with Star Sports, Rohit reckoned that the batting unit's failure has kept the team away from the victory against LSG in the ongoing IPL season.

"When you have a target like that, it is very crucial to string those partnerships, and we didn't do that. Instead, we played a few irresponsible shots, including myself. As a result, we didn't get the momentum when we needed," Rohit said.

MI captain said the team's batting department has lacked confidence this season, and none of the batters have taken the responsibility to bat long. He further added that one of the batters at the crease needs to take the game deep, like the other successful teams.

"We haven't batted well enough in this tournament. The whole thing goes on the batting unit. Whoever plays in the middle needs to take that responsibility and make sure one of the batters bats long. 

"We've failed to do that in the tournament. None of our batters have batted long innings, which other teams' batters have done. So we need to make sure that one man needs to bat longer," Rohit concluded.

Mumbai Indians will play their next match against Rajasthan Royals at the DY Patil Stadium on April 30.