‘Key is to leave WI players alone’

MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians’ (MI) captain Rohit Sharma on Tuesday quipped that players from the West Indies cannot be guided and leaving them to do ‘their thing’ is the only way to get the best out of them. Rohit’s comments came following a query on how he as Mumbai Indians’ captain is guiding the young Evin Lewis, the explosive Caribbean batsman who is playing for the first time in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Lewis struck his first IPL halfcentury — 65 off 42 balls with the help of six fours and five sixes — and added 108 runs for the third wicket with Rohit (94) to help Mumbai to a big score of 213/6, which culminated in Mumbai Indians’ first win in IPL 2018 by 46 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

“You don’t guide West Indian players. You have to let them be themselves. If you try to tell them, ‘this is how you should defend’, ‘this is how you should play’, (the) opposite (happens). Nothing will fall in place. It is better that we let them to (do) their thing and that’s how you get the best out of them,” Rohit said post Mumbai’s win.

“One thing I have learned from handling Kieron Pollard because he is with the team and I don’t tell him anything, so I guess it will be the same with Evin Lewis because naturally, he is the striker of the ball, so you should not complicate things with him and allow him the way he wants to play, sometimes it will come off, sometimes it won’t, the day it comes off, he will win you games on his own, for such kind of players you don’t talk much you have to let them be themselves, most of the times,” Rohit added.

Rohit struck form with a fine 94. When asked about if the defending champions had any specific plan to attack RCB bowlers he said, “Not really, when you are batting you have to put pressure on the bowlers — whether it is spinners or fast bowlers you should, the time you allow them to bowl the day they want to bowl, that is when you will put yourself under pressure.”

“We never had any discussion about which bowler to target, like I said we had left-right combination going all the way through, when off spinners are bowling, right-handers are most likely to take that chances and when leg spinners are bowling left-handers will take most of the chances, that happens everywhere with all the team, that is the planning,” he added.