Rohit Sharma reveals why he batted at No. 3 after loss to CSK

Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians faced defeat in hands of the hosts CSK.

Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets in the reverse fixture at Chepauk. With a magnificent opening spell from Tushar Deshpande and Deepak Chahar, CSK started well by picking up 3 wickets in the first three overs. Later in the innings, Matheesha Pathirana restricted Mumbai Indians to just 139. MI’s top order failed miserably against CSK's pace attack. MI opened with Cameron Green (6) and Ishan Kishan (7), and Rohit Sharma (0) shifted himself to the number 3 position. Rohit was out on his second consecutive duck in the IPL 2023. Later, Suryakumar Yadav (26) and Nehal Wadhera added 55 runs for MI to steer them toward a decent total. Nehal Wadhera scored 64 runs in 51 balls. 

Rohit opens up about his Number 3 batting position

MI missed Tilak Verma massively in the game, Tristan Stubbs got the opportunity in place of him, Stubbs was struggling to score freely and he could only score 20 runs off 21 balls. Talking about coming in to bat at 3, Rohit Sharma said, “Just felt that was comfortable after losing Tilak Verma, we needed Indian batters in the middle overs but we lost three in the power play”. Piyush Chawla is having a great IPL 2023. Praising him Rohit said, “Piyush is bowling well, others need to rally around him. That’s what we expect, it’s a team game”. Piyush Chawla once again was economical and picked up 2 wickets in his 4 overs spell. 

MS Dhoni happy with an important win

Chennai Super Kings openers started magnificently in the chase. Ruturaj Gaikwad (30) and Devon Conway (44) added 46 runs for the first wicket. With this start, CSK batters took Chennai over the line in the 18th over. CSK captain MS Dhoni said, “Crucial game for a simple reason, the middle of the table is a logjam. This win gives us a cushion, but it doesn’t make us comfortable because one or two teams are close and are facing each other. We haven’t had a couple of games in our favour too”. Chennai's Batting lineup looked comfortable against Mumbai Indians in the chase. 

Ronaldo fan Pathirana wins POTM

Known as Malinga 2.0, Matheesha Pathirana won the Player of the Match award for his spell in death overs. Pathirana picked up 3 wickets in his 4 overs conceding only 15 runs. Pathirana talked about his experience in the Chennai dressing room. He said, “It started last season, I came as a replacement and played two games. Now I am getting more games and I am happy”. Talking about his special celebration, he said, “Happy about contributing to the team's win. I am a die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and I have modeled my celebration after him”.