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In their 24-run defeat against KKR, Rohit scored just 11 runs off 12 balls in the second innings, in which Rohit was a substitute. The defeat almost knocked the five-time champions out of this year’s IPL.
“He just has a slight stiffness in his back, so it’s just a precautionary measure,” Chawla told the media after the game at Wankhede Stadium.
Mumbai’s eighth defeat in 11 games has ended the Hardik Pandya-led side’s run, with Chawla admitting their only remaining motivation is “pride”.
“For pride and reputation, because sometimes when you get on the field you don’t think about whether you’re going to qualify,” he said.
“You have to fight for your name and that’s why we fight for it,” he added.
Chawla said MI’s lack of motivation throughout the IPL season was the reason for their poor performance.
“You must have heard this often T20 It’s all about momentum, we just haven’t had it this season and that can happen to any team,” he said.
“This isn’t the first time it’s happened to us, and it’s not the second time it’s happened to any other team. It could happen to anybody, it’s just that this momentum isn’t our way.”
On Friday, 35-year-old Chawla surpassed Dwayne Bravo Taking 184 wickets, he became the second highest wicket-taker in IPL.
“It has been a great journey because the IPL started 17 years ago and no one had that much preference for spinners but now if you see the top wicket-takers in India, especially all spinners Hands, Ashwin, Uchi and myself (are there), so it feels good,” he said.
Additionally, Chawla also praised Manish Pandey for his performance despite the pressure in the first game of the season. KKR scored a total of 169 runs in 19.5 overs with Pandey (42) and Venkatesh Iyer (70) shared 83 runs for the sixth wicket.
“It’s been a good partnership and they batted really well so they deserve credit for that. Well, T20 is a program where experience plays a big role and (that’s) what we saw today.”
“When Manish walked in, if someone walked in and he certainly hadn’t played a few games, he would panic because he wasn’t running.
“But he read the situation and the way he handled it, because if you saw at the beginning, he could barely run the ball. But then, he knew he had to be with Vinky.”
(With PTI input)
