Apart from hitting a sublime 53, where his timing of shots stood out in his third fifty of the season, Rohit shared a stellar 116-run opening stand with Ryan Rickleton, who hit 61. It was the first instance of MI getting a century stand from their opening pair in IPL 2025.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
All of this looked impossible if Rohit hadn\u2019t survived an lbw decision early on off Fazalhaq Farooqi, with his timely review showing the ball had pitched outside the leg stump. \"It was important to get off to a good start. Looking at a couple of overs, the ball was coming on nicely and we took our chances.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWanted to hit straight as much as possible. It was kind of skidding, we thought that hitting in a straight direction was a good option. The only thing I was worried about was if it was pitching in line or not, it was a knuckleball, so I knew it wouldn\u2019t bounce over. Took my chance and it paid off.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201c(Rickelton) works really hard on his game and understands his game very well. Understands which bowler to target and picks his spot well. If he continues to bat like that, it augurs very well for us,\u201d said Rohit in a mid-innings chat with the broadcasters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya hitting an unbeaten 48 each, MI managed to finish at 217\/2 in 20 overs. Rohit backed MI\u2019s bowling line-up to defend the total easily.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cNice for us to get off to that start. It\u2019s very important for us to understand the pitch and use the variations. We shouldn't be predictable and use the longer side well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe guys are pretty experienced in what they do and understand what is expected of them. It\u2019s a good score, and we can hopefully defend it. If we get a couple of wickets in the power-play, we can put the brakes on them. If you look at our batting line-up, a lot of these guys haven\u2019t batted for a few games.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cNice for us to get off to that start. It\u2019s very important for us to understand the pitch and use the variations. We shouldn't be predictable and use the longer side well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Also Read: <\/b> LIVE Cricket Score<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n