Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene has clarified that the use of Rohit Sharma as an ‘impact substitute’ wasn’t a plan that was set in stone at the beginning of the season.
Instead, it was a tactical decision made based on team balance and fielding needs, especially considering that Rohit was managing a minor injury after India’s Champions Trophy campaign.
Jayawardene explained that several players in the squad were performing dual roles—both with the ball and in the field.
“But if you look at the composition of the team, most of the guys are doing dual roles; most of them are bowling. At the same time, some of the venues need boundary runners, you need guys with speed and all that so that also comes into play.”
Rohit’s ongoing recovery also played a part in the decision.
“Ro was also nursing a niggle from the Champions Trophy so we wanted to make sure that we don’t push him too hard, and we have managed that while (his) batting is the most important thing,” Jayawardene added.
Despite limited time on the field, Jayawardene emphasized that Rohit has been deeply engaged with the team, providing support from the dugout and during timeouts.
“If you’ve seen, he’s always been around in the dugout, or he goes in during timeouts, and there’s a lot of communication that’s been happening, so actively involved.”
Rohit has also been part of a strong opening combination with Ryan Rickelton, which has helped Mumbai build solid starts.
“For any team, the openers do play a very valuable part in establishing the innings and especially with the batting lineup that we have, the way we build when we get a good start, it always complements to that,” Jayawardene said.
“It’s just that even though Ro, probably (in) the last few years, he hadn’t (had) those big scores but he was trying to give us that impetus as well — even though I was in the head coach, I was watching — he used to get those quick 20s or 30s but couldn’t convert.”
The head coach was also full of praise for Jasprit Bumrah, who has shown strong form since his return.
“He made a good recovery and it didn’t take long for him to get into the stride as well. That’s a good thing about Jasprit that he’s got a lot of control, confidence in how he wants to go about and he gives us a completely different dimension to this attack.”
Jayawardene confirmed that Bumrah is fully fit and improving with each game.
“He’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with him. We’ve monitored him, his pace is getting better and better, so execution is better, we saw that in the last game as well, he was quite aggressive and how he wanted to go about it.”
Looking ahead, Jayawardene expressed confidence in the home advantage for Mumbai Indians in their remaining matches. However, he avoided labeling the upcoming clash as a do-or-die scenario.
“When I saw the schedule, I knew that having to play your last two games out of the three at home obviously was a good thing. We were starting away from home, so we knew that might come into play, and it has come to play.”
“I haven’t thought about the playoffs. There are five (or) six teams with KKR winning yesterday (Sunday) as well, so there’s different permutations, and I’m not going to even go through that, how everything’s going to unfold,” he added.
