The Romario Show
Shepherd was ecstatic after his swashbuckling knock
Romario Shepherd on Mumbai Indians debut was Box Office on a Blockbuster Sunday for the Hardik Pandya-led side.
The 29-year-old from Guyana took the Wankhede by storm with 10-ball 39 that tilted the match largely in favour of Mumbai Indians as he struck Anrich Nortje for 32 runs off the last over.
Shepherd was ecstatic after his knock and spoke about his feelings of playing for Mumbai.
"Representing Mumbai is a big thing for me. At the back of my mind I was saying. I just wanted to get as much runs as possible. I did exactly that and it came off. To do it especially against a tough bowler was satisfying."
Shepherd felt Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard's inputs helped him a lot in constructing his innings. "I've always looked upto Kieron Pollard. So, when I got a call that I would play today, he (Pollard) told me to express myself before I went out to bat. So I went out there with a clear mindset, knowing that the coaching staff was backing me and the skipper was also telling me the same thing. So I went out and did what I was expected to do," he added.
The West Indian's mindbo ggling strike rate of 390 was a record in itself, the highest for someone who has faced 10 deliveries.
"It is fantastic to know about this achievement. It is a good feeling,'' he added.
Shepherd felt conversations with the MI team management certainly helped his performance on Sunday as well.
"We were practising hard for the game since it was a day game. Coming into such an important match that was important. Kieron Pollard has been working with me. Just told me to hold my ship."
Shepherd said Mumbai Indians didn't have a target in mind as such but just wanted to express themselves.
"It is a fantastic feeling to
Representing Mumbai is a big thing for me. At the back of my mind I was saying. I just wanted to get as much runs as possible. I did exactly that and it came off. To do it especially against a tough bowler was satisfying. – Romario Shepherd, Mumbai Indians batter
bat like this. We wanted to push for a win. We didn't set a target in mind. We wanted to just express ourselves. Hardik and Timmy played really well and we took off from there." Referring to the Mumbai Indians team environment, Shepherd had only one thing to say: Family.
Shepherd also felt some cricket lovers in his home town of Guyana would have been watching him play.