Mumbai Indians fared reasonably well with the ball after opting to bowl against Lucknow Super Giants. But their batting came a cropper once again in their 36-run loss at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

A disconsolate Rohit Sharma put that down to “irresponsible shots”.

“I thought we bowled pretty okay. It was also a good pitch to bat on, but we didn’t bat well enough.

“We should have chased that (169-run target) down. When you have a target like that, you need those partnerships, which we couldn’t stitch. Some irresponsible shots, including that of mine, made things tougher for us,” the Mumbai captain said at the post-match presentation.

“We haven’t batted well in the tournament. You have to ensure one of the batters bats long, but we have failed to do that this time around. Rather, some of the opposition players have done that and it has hurt us,” Rohit added.

With their chances of making the play-offs as good as over after their eighth straight defeat, Mumbai still believe they don’t need to make wholesale changes in the XI for their remaining matches.

“Looking at how the tournament has gone, every name has come into discussion. But we want to make sure whoever gets a chance, he gets a fair run in the XI and goes on to contribute.

“So we’ll try not to make too many changes. Whoever plays should get enough opportunities. That’s how I look at it,” Rohit explained.

For Rohit’s counterpart, KL Rahul, adjudged Man of the Match for his unbeaten 103, staying in the moment is what helps him excel. “I try to stay in the moment and see what’s expected of me. Fingers crossed, I can carry on doing the same thing,” Rahul stated.

The Lucknow captain believes having an efficient all-rounder like Jason Holder batting as low as No.8 is one reason why he has been able tomaintain a high strike rate at the top of the order.