Mumbai Indians opener Ryan Rickelton claims he never misses the chance to learn from Rohit Sharma about various aspects of batting, but the Indian legend is far more adept at displaying how it’s done, pulling off strokes that he can only hit in his “wildest dreams”.
The Mumbai Indians defeated the Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets in Mumbai on Monday riding on 29-year-old Rickelton (83) and Rohit (84), who collaborated for their second century partnership of the season and kept the team’s playoffs hopes alive.
“I picked his brain a little bit more (in the) first year, just about batting in general. Not necessarily T20 batting, (it was) more (about) Tests and 50-overs batting and the specifics and the mentality around it,” PTI quoted Rickelton as saying when asked about the tips he has received from Rohit.
“It’s never always (a) life-changing advice that you hear. It is the stuff that you’ve heard through different paths and closures as you kind of work your way through the game. It is just more (about) how he manages pressure, how he stays calm and how he backs his ability and understands his game really well,” he said.
The key to their success as an opening pair, according to Rickelton, is having distinct areas to focus on and being transparent about their strategies.
“We complement each other nicely as a left-hand right-hand (combination), we score in very different areas and we are quite clear in our methods and who we want to put pressure on,” he said.
Talking about their approach as a pair, Rickelton said, “Sometimes he gets away really quickly and takes a lot of pressure off me and sometimes I get away quickly and take a lot of pressure off him.”
“Coming back from five or six games out, he gave himself a few balls to just get back to batting again and his routines and then transferring that pressure onto the bowlers. He hit some shots that I could only have in my wildest dreams.”
According to Rickelton, the presence of senior South African batsman and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock on the team, who also made an IPL century earlier this season, put additional pressure on him.
“It was tricky to manage mentally because maybe you are burning yourself with a bit more pressure to do well, because you have a guy who is flipping good sitting behind you and the whole world is screaming to pick him,” he said.
“…you can put yourself under a bit too much pressure. But on the flip side, I got an opportunity when he did some damage to his hand,” Rickelton added.
Rickelton, who scored 83, claimed that De Kock gave him an earful for failing to score 100.
“He was the first person to absolutely abuse me tonight, saying I threw away a hundred, which I agree with him.”
Rickelton claimed he had no idea how serious captain Hardik Pandya’s injury was. Pandya was unable to play the match due to a back spasm.
“I do not know when he is expected to be back. I found out this afternoon that he has back spasms so I am unaware to the extent of the injury or how bad it is or what he is feeling. But I am sure he will be with the group as we head to Raipur this week,” he said.
