On a slow wicket in Chennai, the Mumbai Indians (MI) got off to a vigilant start and team captain Rohit Sharma had just entered the zone when confusion with his opening partner Chris Lynn led to his dismissal.
In the final delivery from 4th over, the Australian placed the ball towards the covers and charged onto the pitch for a run before deciding against. Rohit was then halfway through the pitch as Virat Kohli took the opportunity to send his dangerous counterpart back to the clubhouse.
A pressure on the face of Chris Lynn, playing his first game for the 5 times champions, was visible. He tried to be forgiven and scored 35 balls 49, the most batsman on his team in the opener of the 2021 IPL season on Friday.
However, the 31-year-old believes his ‘not-so-ideal’ mistake may make his first game for MI his last as well.
“Look, obviously I was a little nervous, no doubt. (It was my) first game for Mumbai, and it was the first time that I beat Rohit too. It also happens in the game of cricket. thought there was a run, and then obviously there wasn’t a run, but yeah, if I could have walked past him and sacrificed my wicket, I certainly would have done that, but it wasn’t not the case.
“Like I said it does happen, but yeah, I put a little more pressure on myself. It’s not ideal, missing your captain in the first game. The first game could be my last, who knows? (Laughs) But anyway, it was an impulsive thing, happening in the game. It would have been nice (if the runout hadn’t happened); he was hitting the ball well, and we were missing 10 or 15 points at the end. He certainly would have made a difference, but there were a lot of factors in this game tonight, not just the run-out, ”Chris Lynn said in the post-match press conference .
Chris Lynn later took two catches, one which helped MI see the back of Glenn Maxwell, who was looking to finish the game early for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
The match went on the wire but AB de Villiers and Harshal Patel held their nerves to win the match with just one on the last ball from 20th.
Lynn was playing in place of South African Quinton de Kock, who is currently serving the mandatory 7-day quarantine period after arriving in India earlier this week. The southpaw has been the team’s first-choice wicket keeper and opener for the past few seasons.