IPL 2024: Piyush Chawla reveals why MI used Rohit Sharma as Impact Player against KKR
There was no clarity for the reason behind the decision and skipper Hardik Pandya also did not mention anything during the coin toss.
During the recent Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the MI management decided to use star batter Rohit Sharma as an Impact Player rather than fielding him in the Playing XI.
There was no clarity for the reason behind the decision and skipper Hardik Pandya also did not mention anything during the coin toss.
However, in the aftermath of the match, veteran MI spinner Piyush Chawla revealed the reason behind the call.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Chawla revealed, ‘Rohit had a mild back stiffness so just as a precaution he was brought in as an impact player’.
Given the T20 World Cup 2024 lined up next, it will be of utmost importance to manage Rohit's workload who will also be donning the captaincy reins in the mega-event.
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KKR break a jinx of 12 years
Speaking about the match, KKR broke a jinx of 12 years to register a win at Wankhede. Prior to today, KKR had just won once at the Wankhede during their title-winning season in 2012.
Batting first, the two-time IPL winners were dealt a massive early blow, reeling at 57 for 5 in the first six overs of the match.
However, it was Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey who made amends for the early setback with a crucial 83-run stand for the sixth wicket.
Manish Pandey fell 8 runs short of a half-century while Iyer registered a deft knock of 52-ball 70 to propel the KKR scoreboard to a competitive total of 169.
Chasing a moderately easy target, Mumbai Indians faltered right from the beginning with openers Ishan Kishan (13) and Rohit Sharma (11) departing cheaply.
MI never really looked in control of the chase and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Suryakumar Yadav kept the hosts' hopes alive with a quickfire fifty but wasn't enough to see his side through.
For KKR, Mitchell Starc finally lived up to his loft price tag picking up four wickets while Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell finished with two scalps each.
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