IPL 2023: 'Used to playing without Jasprit Bumrah for past 6-8 months' - Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma

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IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma said that he was used to playing without pacer Jasprit Bumrah after the five-time champions lost their series opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by eight wickets at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.

Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis scored a fifty each and partnered for 148 runs for the first wicket as RCB chased down the 172-run target in 16.2 overs only. On being asked about injured Bumrah's absence, the 35-year-old bluntly said that there was no point dwelling on it.

"For the past six to eight months, I am used to playing without Jasprit Bumrah [for India too]," he said after the loss. "Of course, this is a different set-up. Someone needs to put their hand up and come in to fill that place.

"We can't keep dwelling on it. You can try and control the things that are in your control and those that are not in your control, you can't do that. Injuries are not in your control," Rohit said in the post MI's 11th consecutive defeat in their IPL opener.

"The other guys that we have are talented. It's just that they haven't played a lot of IPL. We need to give them the support," he added.

Further, Rohit praised 20-year-old Tilak Varma for his unbeaten 84 off 46 which propelled Mumbai, who were 48/4 in 8.5 overs, to 171/7 at the end of 20 overs. The right-hand batter added that a few more runs on the board could have helped the side in the match.

"He is a very positive person, quite talented as well," Rohit said. "Some of the shots he played, in the first game of the season, showed a lot of courage. That is something we spoke of - we want to be brave and courageous in the middle.

"We didn't start well, and it was always a catching up game. Hats off to Tilak to get us to a competitive total. It was a good pitch to bat on. We didn't bat to even half of our potential and yet got to 170. Probably 30-40 runs more would have been ideal. We were struggling to play the catch-up game but Tilak was magnificent," Rohit concluded.

Mumbai Indians play their next match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Mumbai on Saturday, April 8.