MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians finally snapped their losing streak in the Indian Premier League at their ninth attempt and skipper Rohit Sharma felt it came way too late in the season for IPL’s most successful franchise.

The five-time champions lost eight matches on the trot to effectively drop out of the playoff race but Rohit got a consolation win on his 35th birthday after Mumbai downed Rajasthan Royals on Saturday.

“I would definitely take it, that’s how we play. The real potential came out, with the ball especially,” a relieved Rohit said after their five-wicket victory at the D.Y. Patil Stadium. Fancied Mumbai frequently experimented with their player combination but could not arrest their slide and remain rooted to the bottom of the points table in the 10-team league.

“When you have a season like that, you’re not sure of your combination. You want to try out so many things,” said Rohit, whose own form has been patchy. Things could have been different had Mumbai been able to close some of the matches they narrowly lost. “It hasn’t worked for the eight games we played, but we were not blown away by the opposition.

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“We came really close and we lost crucial games. Had we won those, things would be different for us.” Suryakumar Yadav’s belligerent 51 set up Mumbai’s victory against Rajasthan and the top order batsman said the win had somewhat lifted the gloom in the dressing room.

“It was a good one from the team’s point of view,” Yadav said after collecting player of the match award. “Losing so many games, that was an important win to have a good atmosphere in the team”.