Sherfane Rutherford Aims to Forge His Own Legacy with Mumbai Indians in IPL

Sherfane, once a member of the 2020 title-winning squad of MI, but did not get any games, will now be playing against GT, a franchise for which he scored some difficult runs in the last season, but was traded to MI ahead of the auction.

Speaking on his memories of being a part of the 2020 squad with MI, he said that he "enjoyed every bit of it". Now, however, six years later, MI face a different challenge, battling for survival after having lost four of their first five games.

"It was a great memory, and I enjoyed every bit of it. You have to have that hunger to win; no opposition team will give you a victory easily. You can achieve anything once you put your mind to it. It is not always how you start a tournament; since it is a long one, you can always bounce back from difficult situations," he said as quoted by MI's official website.

On working with Pollard, he said that it has been a "big boost" for him working with the West Indies icon.

"Since I have known him for a very long time, it is easy to get along with him. We spend a lot of time on the net together, and he answers a lot of my questions. I have an opportunity to create my own legacy in this team," he added.

So far in four innings for MI, he has made 102 runs at an average of 34.00, with a strike rate of 200.00, with a 31-ball 71* against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), with four and nine sixes being the high points of his campaign.

Rutherford said that Wankhede Stadium is a "good wicket" and he hopes to win a few matches for his team.

"Wankhede is a pretty good wicket. As a batter, once you settle down on the pitch, there is not much a bowler can do. For me, I just wanted to get set and stay till the very end. I wish I could have won that game for the team, but unfortunately, that did not happen. That knock gave me good confidence to move ahead in this tournament. Hopefully, I can win a few games for the Mumbai Indians," he added.

Speaking on his preparations for a big game, he said, "A lot of my preparations happen during the net sessions themselves. The way I bat in the nets is similar to the way I approach a game. First few balls, get a few singles in and then try and hit those boundaries. Just sticking to the process and whatever I am doing in training, I will try to stick to those plans while batting. I keep backing myself at all times. On match day, I keep it simple...and do not think too much because at the end of the day it is bat versus ball. I like to go out and just enjoy the game."

Squads: Gujarat Titans Squad: Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ashok Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shahrukh Khan, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Jason Holder, Luke Wood, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kulwant Khejroliya, Anuj Rawat, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu, Connor Esterhuizen Mumbai Indians Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Ryan Rickelton, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Mayank Rawat, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Trent Boult, Corbin Bosch, Mitchell Santner, Ashwani Kumar, Will Jacks, Mayank Markande, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, AM Ghazanfar, Danish Malewar, Krish Bhagat, Mohammed Salahuddin Izhar.

- ANI