Playing with Sachin has benefited me, says Rohit

Rohit Sharma on Friday said that playing with Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has benefited him a lot and he was looking forward to win the IPL title for Mumbai Indians. "Whenever I batted with him, he came up to me and always said what I needed to do. It's a good helping hand from him.

I've really benefited a lot. I've to do well whatever games left and will try to win the Cup for Mumbai Indians," Rohit said ahead of MI's match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday. Asked if he was eyeing a berth in the Indian team for Twenty20 World Cup to be held in September in Sri Lanka, he said, "If I do well things other things will fall in place.

It's still a long way to go. I'm not thinking about it at the moment." The right-hander conceded that batting has been the reason behind MI's inconsistent performance this season but his side were focusing on doing well in the remaining four league matches.

"Obviously, we did not play good as a team. We didn't adapt to the conditions. Wicket was sticky and damp. But being a professional, you have to perform in any given condition. Our batting had failed simply. Our bowlers have been doing tremendous job. It's just that we did not do well as a batting unit.

"At the moment we are happy the way we are. We could have done much better as we lost a few close games. At the same time we won a few close ones. It's part and parcel of game. We still have four more quite crucial games to decide where we end up in the tournament," he said.

Rohit said that his side were not looking at the points table but focusing on winning the remaining matches. "It's very important to win every game. We know where we stand. It's important to go there and perform rather than thinking about the table," he said.

THIS INTERVIEW WAS GIVEN BEFORE THE GAME VS KKR @ EDEN GARDENS

© PTI