‘Once Jofra was gone, I knew Akash Madhwal had character to do job for us’: Rohit Sharma on Mumbai’s gamechanger

Unheralded Akash Madhwal turned out to be Mumbai Indians hero on Wednesday, as he claimed five wickets for just five runs in 3.3 overs. Madhwal broke the spine of Lucknow Super Giants claiming the wickets of Prerak Mankad, Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi and Mohsin Khan on the night to hand Lucknow Super Giants an 81-run defeat in the Eliminator.
Mumbai will now take on the Gujarat Titans in the second Qualifier.
Speaking about the game-winner in the post-match conversation, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma heaped praise on Madhwal, who is Uttarakhand’s first homegrown cricketer to play in the IPL.
“He (Akash) was the part of the team last year as a support bowler, but he didn’t get to play. Once Jofra Archer was gone (due to injury), I knew he had skills and the character to do the job for us. We needed somebody to bowl at the back end and we knew what he had,” said Sharma.
READ: Akash Madhwal: Engineer, Pant’s neighbour and MI’s trump card who eliminated Lucknow Super Giants
The five-time winners have made it a habit of unearthing diamonds from the rough over the years. when asked what separated Mumbai when it came to talent scouting and then helping these youngsters gain confidence, Sharma said: “Over the years, we have seen many guys coming in from Mumbai Indians and playing for India. It is important to make them (youngsters) feel special and make them feel part of the team, my job is to just make them comfortable in the middle. They are very clear in their roles about what they need to do for the team and that’s what you want. As a team we enjoyed it (fielding). Good to see everyone contributing on the field.”
Mumbai were in dire straights in the first half of the league stage, but managed to bounce back in the second.
“That is what we have done over the years. People don’t expect us to do what we have done, but we managed to.,” said Sharma. “Coming to Chennai, we knew whole team needs to come to the party. At Wankhede you need one or two brilliant performances, but here it is a different ball game.”
Meanwhile, his Lucknow counterpart, Pandya, took the blame for LSG’s defeat. The team was 68/2 at one stage with Pandya and Marcus Stoinis stitching together a partnership. But Pandya managed to lose his wicket, which started the slump. The team soon found itself bowled out for 101.
“We were in a good position at one stage, but everything started going wrong when I played that (rash) shot. We should have played better cricket. That shot (which cost him his wicket) was not on. I completely take the blame for that. The ball was coming nicely on to the bat, we just had to bat better. We didn’t play good cricket after that strategic break,” said Pandya.