Rohit explains why Hardik Pandya is not playing against SRH

Mumbai Indians star player, Hardik Pandya, was not picked for MI’s second match against SRH tonight. Hardik injured himself in the first match against CSK, as he hurt himself on the very last ball of the innings.

This is what Rohit Sharma had to say about Hardik’s omission from the starting lineup.

“We are missing Hardik due to injury, so Pradeep Sangwan is playing instead of him. We’ve left out Mitch McCleneghan, and we’ve included Ben Cutting instead, who has played a lot of cricket here and knows the conditions pretty well.

“We need to focus on the positives and we won’t look too much into that (the last game). We were outclassed by Bravo the other day, but we aren’t disheartened by that. We need to look at the bigger things, that’s what has helped us get success in the past. It’s important to get momentum in the tournament. We know the threat that SRH possess.”

Pandya will be a huge loss to Mumbai, as the all-rounder provides superb balance to the side and will be surely missed by the Mumbai franchise.

Kane Williamson was also dealt with a blow before the match, as SRH’s star player, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, suffered an injury just prior to the match.

“Unfortunately Bhuvi misses out, he has a sore back, so Sandeep Sharma comes in making his debut for the franchise, so that’s exciting for him. I suppose momentum is a reflection. We need to keep improving as a team.

“We started well but beating a side of Mumbai’s calibre isn’t going to be easy. No number in mind about what to chase. Last time it was a good surface but we were really good with the ball, so we just want to keep improving as a team; to go out there and perform.”