Hyderabad: West Indies' Alzarri Joseph made a dream debut in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians on Saturday as he recorded the best bowling figures for a debutant in IPL against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Joseph claimed six wickets and conceded just 12 runs in his allotted four overs. Heaping praises on Joseph, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma said that it was " Sensational bowling effort from Joseph". Rohit, however, also insisted that it is important for his side to win games at the beginning of the tournament.
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"It was a sensational bowling effort from Alzarri, to bowl like this in first game. He's come in on a lot of confidence from the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and he's carrying it here," Rohit said after the match.
On his very first ball of the match, Joseph bowled in-form SRH opener David Warner to set the script right for Mumbai. In his next over, Joseph removed Vijay Shankar from the crease. Joseph also claimed four more wickets while bowling in death overs for Mumbai to take his tally to six wickets.
"Yes, very pleased. Winning the game is obviously a great result. I thought 136 wasn't a great batting effort, but we bowled in the right areas, kept them guessing all the time and held our nerves. We were in the game till the last ball which is what we spoke of," Rohit added.
Talking about the pitch, Rohit said, "We didn't bat well to start with, kept losing wickets and we knew after a few overs that it wasn't a 170-180 pitch."
"The pitch was under covers for a day, it was raining as well and the wicket was a bit sticky. So we knew that 140 would be a good score to defend because we've got the quality in our bowling and we back them to defend whatever we get," India ODI vice-captain added.
Mumbai Indians will next take on Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday.
