‘We win together, we lose together’: Full text of MI skipper Rohit Sharma’s speech after loss to KKR

The Mumbai Indians (MI) find themselves in choppy waters in the early stages of the 15th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with three defeats in a row.

Rohit Sharma’s men suffered a hat-trick of defeats at the start of the season with a five-wicket loss at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Pune on Wednesday.

Senior pacer Pat Cummins starred with the bat, dishing out a stunning 15-ball 56 not out that helped the 2021 runners-up chase down the 162-run target with as many as four overs to spare, helping them move to the top of the points table.

For Mumbai, beginning an IPL campaign isn’t anything new; in fact a shaky start to an IPL campaign has become something of a trademark for Rohit and Co — they ended up winning the 2015 edition after losing five out of their first six.

However, things are a little different this time around and the inclusion of two new teams in Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans has only increased the competition in the league. The five-time winners thus, cannot afford another defeat or two and will hope to discover a spark in their coming fixtures that turns their campaign on its head.

After the loss against KKR, skipper Rohit had a chat with his players, hoping to fire them up with a pep talk. Here’s the full transcript of his speech to his teammates:

We seriously cannot be blaming individuals here. It’s all of us. We win together, we lose together. That is as simple as that for me.

I think slight desperation is required from each one of us. That desperation is very, very, very important when we play, especially in this tournament. Because oppositions are different, they come up with different plans all the time. We just need to stay ahead of them. We just need to stay on top of them. And the only way we can do that is by having that slight hunger and that desperation on the field – with the bat, with the ball.

So we are doing some good things. All three games that we’ve played, we’ve done some really good things. It’s just that those little moments, and that indication, you know an individual has to understand, in that period of time when the game is happening.

There will be an indication that ‘this is the over’. What we do in that over, those little, little things – that we need to try and squeeze that, and get it towards our side. Get that momentum towards our side.

We don’t need to panic. Honestly, we talk about talent, potential and everything in this room – but until we bring that desperation and hunger on the ground, oppositions are not going to hand us wins just like that.

They certainly took the victory from us. We need to do that against the opposition as well. We need to nail those crucial moments and then see what happens, after that.

There’s no point in putting our heads down at this point, because it’s still early days. Still early days. And I feel that, in these three games that we’ve played we’ve shown some character. It’s just that collectively, all 11 of us inside – whoever goes inside – need to come together.

That’s all. Let’s keep our heads up. I don’t think we need to look down and start worrying about things. Honestly, we don’t need to worry about things.

We can talk about so much stuff off the field, but I think it’s in there, what we want to achieve as a group. Again, this is not the bowling group or batting group, this is all of us – all of us here. We need to come together, not one or two individuals. Everyone needs to come together. That is what I feel.