Rohit dismisses home advantage for Mumbai in IPL

Skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday played down talk of any advantage for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League despite them being the only team this season that will play home matches.

The 15th edition of the expanded Twenty20 tournament begins on Saturday with the group games among the 10 teams restricted to four venues - one in Pune and three in Mumbai.

Five-time champions Mumbai will take on Delhi Capitals in their first match on Sunday at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Some of the 10 franchises including Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants had reportedly raised objections with India's cricket board over Mumbai's home advantage.

"I don't believe in added advantage as 70-80 percent (of the Mumbai team) guys have not played in Mumbai before," Rohit told reporters.

"Only myself, Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), (Kieron) Pollard, Ishan (Kishan), (Jasprit) Bumrah, those guys have played in Mumbai a lot, others have not."

He added: "We have not played in Mumbai for over two years. In fact the other franchises played here last year, we didn't get to play."

Mumbai have retained their core group that won them a record five titles under Rohit after teams reset their squads in the IPL auction last month.

But Mumbai bought back Kishan for a whopping $2 million, with coach Mahela Jayawardene saying the left-handed batter remains crucial for their "top-order balance".

Kishan, a 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, opens the batting with Rohit.

Rohit, who recently took charge of India's captaincy across formats, also on Wednesday backed cricket's new rule changes that will come into effect in the IPL.

The controversial "Mankad" run-outs - where a bowler runs out the non-striker in their delivery stride if the batter is out of his crease - will