New Delhi, May 18 (IANS): Mumbai Indians lost their last game of the IPL season by 18 runs against Lucknow Super Giants. Following the game, former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on Rohit Sharma’s 38 ball 68 runs innings, calling it “very heartening.”

The match between Mumbai and Lucknow was a dead rubber clash as both sides had already been eliminated from playoff contention. Lucknow put up a total of 214/6 on the back of a blistering innings from Nicholas Pooran who scored 75 runs off 29 deliveries.

“Well, that was such a nice thing to see. Because look, we know that Mumbai Indians can't qualify, but to see Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain for the T20 World Cup starting in about 15 days' time, batting the way that he has, it's very heartening. That's exactly what you want. You want Rohit Sharma to be setting the team off to a good start, so that the lower-order batters can come in and finish it off, potentially getting 200-plus every time they play,” said Gavaskar while Speaking to Star Sports Cricket Live.

Despite the huge total, it was the former MI captain, Rohit Sharma, who gave the five-time champions a great start to the encounter. Sharma came to bat as an impact player and scored 68 runs off 38 deliveries to give his side the perfect start to the game despite them going on to lose by 18 runs.

Rohit Sharma will now head to the United States of America on June 24 with the first batch of players who will be representing the country at the T20 World Cup starting on June 1 (June 2 as per IST). The second batch of players will be the ones who are representing their respective franchises during the playoffs of the IPL. The second batch will be joining the squad after the conclusion of the tournament on May 26.