'He Has Been Struggling With Lots of Injuries...' Rohit Sharma after a Historic Win Over RR in the 1000th IPL Game

Rohit Sharma with Piyush Chawla against RR (AP Photo)

30th April, 2023 was a memorable day in the history of the IPL. It was Super Sunday and we saw two thrilling games that went right down to the wire. The second game was between MI and RR - the 1000th game of the IPL and it turned out to be a cracker of an encounter on Rohit's 36th birthday.

It was also Hitman's 190th game for MI as he became the most capped player for Mumbai Indians surpassing Kieron Pollard. His team made it special as they recorded the first ever successful 200-plus chase at the Wankhede in the IPL.

Taling after the match, Rohit was in a jolly mood and started off with joking that it is his 35th birthday, not 36th. He said that he was pretty pleased to see the target chased down and mentioned that they came close to chasing a 200-plus target against Punjab but they got over the line in this game.

" It's my 35th birthday not 36th (On Harsha saying him Happy 36th Birthday). Haha... No, it's the 36th only, I was joking (On Harsha saying oh, they gave me one more). Yeah, it was very pleasing to see how we chased down the target, last time we came close to the target but today we got over the line,"

Rohit also applauded Tim David for his finishing skills and said that he has big shoes to fill of Kieron Pollard.

"Yeah, I mean see it's a big shoe fill, Polly has done for us for many years. Tim has a lot of power, it's good to have a player like him at the end as bowlers need to keep thinking about where to bowl,"

He also said that they make changes looking at the conditions and informed that Jofra has been struggling with injuries in recent past, so it is important to give him time. He was pleased to see Jofra bowling fast and also applauded Suryakumar Yadav for his brilliant knock.

"Yeah I mean look, we need to make the changes according to the conditions and it's difficult to make the changes sometimes. We spoke about it before the start of the season. See, with Jofra he has been struggling with lots of injuries so he needs some time to get match-fit, it's good to see him bowling this way, his pace was a big positive for us and we know how much better a batter is SKY, this sort of innings from him was just around the corner."

The current Indian captain also did not shy away from applauding Yashasvi Jaiswal and said that it was great to see his timing and sixes. He reckoned that if Yashasvi continues to play like this, it is good for Indian cricket and RR.

"Yeah, Yashasvi was timing the ball perfectly, last year I didn't see these many sixes. He just said that he is working in the gym, obviously, if he plays this way, it's good for the Indian team and RR as well."

Mumbai Indians will now play their next game against Punjab Kings at Mohali on Wednesday, 3rd of May.