Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma apologised to his fans on social media after the team failed to qualify for the playoffs in the ongoing edition of the IPL. The defending champions stormed out of the tournament after facing a six-wicket loss against Gujarat Lions on 21 May in Kanpur. MI, who were put in a must-win situation to qualify for the playoffs, gave GL 173 to chase after a brilliant knock of 70 off 36 from the uncapped Delhi-born batsman Nitish Rana. GL skipper Suresh Raina and the Kiwi bigwig Brendon McCullum put on a 96-run partnership during the chase and sealed the top position on the points table, thus eliminating MI.
Rohit, expressing his disappointment after being knocked out, posted a picture of the team on his Instagram account and mentioned that the team will make a stronger comeback next year. He wrote, “It’s not a team it’s a family, extremely sad that we couldn’t qualify for the playoffs. But not one person in that team was short of efforts we gave everything we had. Thank you each one of you for coming out and supporting the team we will be back stronger next year. @mumbaiindians.”
The right-hander posted the following on his Instagram handle:
The team's official Twitter account also thanked the fans for their support on the micro-blogging site:
Missing overseas players hurt Mumbai’s chances
MI have already clinched the title twice, once in 2013 and again last year, both under Rohit's captaincy. With a power-packed support staff, MI were one of the strongest contenders for the title this year too but put themselves in a pressure situation after their unstable performances in a few games. They lost out on performing at their fortress, the Wankhede, after the Supreme Court imposed a ban on playing in Maharashtra following drought-related issues.
Also read: Mumbai Indians season review in IPL 2016
Missing out on the services of their mainstay bowler Lasith Malinga and the big-hitting opener Lendl Simmons, who were ruled out due to injury, also proved disadvantageous to them.
Rohit, who was in top-form this season, ended the tournament with 489 runs from 14 matches at an average of 44.45. He played a number of match-winning knocks for the side, his best being 85 off 60 balls against Rising Pune Supergiants on 1 May. The skipper is also the leading run-scorer for MI, with a total of 2977 runs in 106 games.
They managed to win seven out of their 14 games and finished fifth in the tournament.
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