Chennai: Mumbai Indians leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, who produced a spectacular performance for Mumbai Indians in their second match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday, has revealed the words of motivation from skipper Rohit Sharma brought the best out of him.
The turnaround was sparked by the 21-year-old, who started poorly but finished with impressive figures of 4 for 27 in his 4 overs to lead the defending champions to a 10-run victory. Chahar dismissed Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan and Nitish Rana which earned him a Man of the Match award.
“Rohit told me that ‘bowl with the confidence and sometimes even I fail to read your ball so how would they. Stay focused and hit the right lengths’. I knew that spinner is going to be a game-changer in this match. I had the confidence that I can do that,” Chahar said in the post-match press conference.
“I enjoyed Rahul Tripathi’s wicket most as that ball turned well. As a leg-spinner, you want that kind of turn and it was exactly like that,” he added.
Further, Chahar stated that he along with all-rounder Krunal Pandya will play the main role for the team on spin-friendly pitches. “We both bowled well. Krunal did not give many runs in his spell. In the last match it was not like this but this time there was help from the wicket for spinners. We will play the main role if we get these kinds of wickets,” he added.
Calling the win a complete team effort Rohit also lauded the team for their ‘excellent fightback.’ “It was an excellent fightback by each one of them. You don’t see a game like this often. We will take lots of confidence from this game as we move forward,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
