John Wright and Rohit Sharma

Raipur: Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach John Wright said that captain Rohit Sharma would not play in this year’s Champions League T20 (CLT20).

Rohit sustained a fracture in the middle finger during the second ODI against England at Cardiff and missed the remaining three one-dayers and the one-off T20 International. “Rohit will not be playing in this tournament. We have held on as long as possible.

“We had a faint hope that Rohit might be able to make it, but that’s not happening. So, we will make the decision (on who will lead MI) in the next 24 hours. We have players in the squad that have done it before and have been very successful,” Wright said on Wednesday.

Rohit has been one of the most important players in the MI squad over the last few years and played a big role in captaining the team to the CLT20 title last year. MI will take on will take on Lahore Lions in the tournament’s first qualifier at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium, here, on Saturday.

“It’s a bit early to say how ground and weather conditions will help the team as we are playing here for the first time. We are confident that the players will soon acclimatise with the conditions and play some good matches.

“We are desperate to make it to the next stage of the competition,” Wright said.

On being asked about game-changers in his team, Wright replied: “We can not single out a player as a key performer. We are banking on every players and expect performance from everyone.”

Speaking about his team’s prospects of defending the title, the New Zealander said: “We would like to go and win the trophy. The opportunity is there for us to make it through. We will have three tough games under our belt, which will put us in a great state for the next stage and that’s something that we are thinking about.

“We are up against three good teams. They look good on paper. They would have done their preparations, so there should be some good cricket in the next few days with four teams desperate for two places.

After a shaky start in this year’s IPL, MI regrouped well to enter the play-offs and will look forward to carry the positives from there. Reflecting on the team’s run, Wright said: “We took a little while to settle down. I think coming back to India helped us.

“We had a great record before in Mumbai and it was a matter of getting that first win and some momentum going. Certainly, Lendl Simmons came in and did an outstanding job for us. There was a lot of character shown by everyone.

“To qualify for this league was a good achievement. And we have got to capitalise on this opportunity.”

Asked which of the three teams — Lahore Lions, Northern Knights and Southern Express — he would rate as the toughest in the qualifiers, the coach cautioned: “I think it’s dangerous to start rating teams particularly in this situation. You have to respect every opposition that you are playing against and that’s the beauty of T20… Anyone can beat anyone.”

Asked if Sachin Tendulkar would be arriving here, Wright said he wasn’t sure but added: “But there is no doubt, whether he is here or not, Sachin is part of MI and will always be.

“Those are the players that create a legacy for any team they play with. He has set an example and a standard for any team that he has represented.”

According to a cricket-specific website, Rohit has been diagnosed with a shoulder problem in addition to the middle-finger fracture. He also visited the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore recently. Following an assessment, the physiotherapists at NCA ruled Rohit out for at least another four weeks. He is now likely to return to Bangalore later this week to start his rehabilitation programme.

It remains to be seen if he will be fit in time for India's series against West Indies, which starts with the ODIs. The first ODI is on October 8 in Kochi.

Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh are the main contenders for the captain's post in MI now.

While Harbhajan led Mumbai Indians to their maiden CLT20 triumph in 2011, Pollard and Malinga recently led their respective teams — Barbados Tridents and Southern Express — to titles in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the Super Fours, respectively.