IPL 2021: We need to play smart cricket to win games - Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma captain of Mumbai Indians plays a shot during match 13 of the Indian Premier League 2021 between the Delhi Capitals and the Mumbai Indians, at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Pic/PTI

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma blamed yet another below par show by his team's batsmen in the middle overs for the loss against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday night.

MI had got off to a decent start, reaching 67/1 in the seventh over. However, between the ninth and the 12th overs, they lost four wickets to lose track as DC managed to restrict them to 137/9 in 20 overs.

"After the start we got, we should have batted better in the middle overs. It is happening time and again. We aren't able to capitalise on our starts and we need to understand that as a batting unit," said Sharma after the match.

MI have struggled in the middle overs of the previous matches also but their bowling as well as rash batting from their opposition had helped them win two of the last three matches.

Sharma, however, refused to blame dew. "Dew isn't the factor. We need to play smart cricket to win games which we didn't do today. We knew dew would come in but we have seen that it's not all that difficult to grip the ball in the last few games," he said.

DC batsman Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 45 to top-score in the match, said dew did play a role. "We knew that it would be tough for them when the ball gets wet, the spinners would find it hard, wanted to keep the partnerships going," said Dhawan.

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