Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma on Saturday blamed his batsmen for the five-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings in the IPL opener, saying they wasted a good start and would need to come out smarter to bounce back in the next match. Put into bat, MI were going strong at 85 for 2 at one stage but couldn't get the partnership going to eventually post 162 for 9 in their stipulated 20 overs. CSK then returned to chase down the target, scoring 166 for 5 with four balls to spare, courtesy Ambati Rayudu's blistering 71 and Faf du Plessis unbeaten 58.

"None of our batsmen carried on for us, like du Plessis and Rayudu did for CSK. I think we were 85 in the first 10 overs. Credit to the CSK bowlers, they bowled well at the end to pull back things. Something for us to learn," Rohit said in the post-match presentation. "Still early days. We all want to start really well, it's crucial in this tournament where momentum is important. Few things for us to learn from this game, we did make few mistakes. Hopefully, we'll rectify those and come out smarter in the next game." Rohit said his team need to adapt to the conditions better. "We need to adapt to the pitches, it got better with the dew coming. You need to hit the gaps and focus on that part of the game. The opposition can tie you down, it's all about understanding what we need to do," he said.