Defending champions Mumbai Indians head coach John Wright today said that skipper Rohit Sharma will not play in the Champions League T20 tournament.
Sharma sustained a fracture in the middle finger during the second ODI against England at Cardiff and missed the remaining 3 ODIs and the one-off T20 that followed.
"Rohit Sharma will not be playing in this tournament. We thought as long as possible. We will find who will lead the side in next 24 hours," Wright said in a press conference here today. "We have players who had done good before and were successful. We expect performance from every player," he said.
Opener Sharma has been one of the most important players in the Mumbai Indians squad over the last few years and played a big role in taking MI to the CLT20 title in 2013.
The team will take on Lahore Lions in the tournament first qualifier on September 13 at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium here.
"It's bit early to say how ground and weather condition will help the team as it is playing for the first time here. We are confident that the players will soon acclimatise with the condition and will play some good matches. We are desperate to make it to the next stage of the competition," he said.
On being asked about game-changers in their side, he said, "We can not single out a player as a key performer. We are banking on every players and expect performance from everyone."
Mohammad Hafeez said that Mumbai will certainly miss Rohit Sharma's services as a player and as a leader after the batsman was ruled of the tournament due to a fractured middle finger.
Sharma suffered the injury in the second one-dayer against England in Cardiff and missed the remaining 3 ODIs and the one-off T20 after that.
"Mumbai Indians will miss the leadership of Rohit Sharma. He is a very good player of the side. Still they have a good team and we are ready to take on them," Hafeez said.
On Indo-Pak relations, Hafeez said that sports should be kept out of political interference.
"I have been to India for 7-8 times and we enjoyed playing here. I think there is a lot of love between people of both the countries. No political issue should be brought into sports," he said.
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