Rohit Sharma, the captain, believes in ‘role clarity’ for his players – be it for the national team or the franchise outfit. Ahead of yet another Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign, the Mumbai Indians captain believes that it is important to have a clear role for the new recruits.

In the auction, the Mumbai Indians rejigged its bowling department, bringing in Jaydev Unadkat, Tymal Mills among others, and Rohit feels that even though all the players are seasoned campaigners, it is the responsibility of the team management to give the ‘new guys’ a clear understanding of what is expected from them.

“Mills, Unadkat are new to the franchise, but they are not new to the game. They have played the game for a number of years now and they know what needs to be done. It’s just that our role will be critical as to how we give them the understanding of what they need to do for us as a team…” Rohit said in a media interaction on Wednesday.

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“They have played for different franchises and countries, where they had different roles. For us, that will be a challenge and we are working with these guys. We are trying to give them a role clarity as to what we are expecting from them and what sort of role they need to play here,” Rohit said.

“Every time you build a new team, this is the challenge you face of having new group of guys and taking them forward and getting into your system and your style of play…”

With the entire tournament set to be played in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune, the five-time champion side is scheduled to play a few games at the Wankhede Stadium. But Rohit doesn’t see it as an added advantage.

“It’s a relatively new team. I don’t believe in added advantage because 70-80 per cent of the guys haven’t played in Mumbai before, so there’s no such thing as added advantage. Only myself, Surya, Pollard, Ishan and Bumrah have played in Mumbai a lot, others have not. We are playing here after two years. We have not played a single game in Mumbai. In fact, other franchises have played in Mumbai last year, we didn’t. So, no advantage…” Rohit said.

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The team plays its first game against Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday, and there is uncertainty over Suryakumar Yadav’s availability. “Surya is at the NCA, recovering well. He will be here soon, I can’t give his availability right now, whether he will be available for the first match or not. We are trying to get him here as soon as possible, once we have the clearance from the NCA…”

This time around, with two new teams coming in, the tournament will be played in a group format – something that was implemented in the 2011 edition of the tournament – and Rohit believes that planning will be the key.

“It’s a format that we played in 2011. To be honest, nothing really changes in terms of planning. You have to play the opposition – some you will play only once or some twice. There’s not too many changes that we need to make, it’s just that you will be playing certain teams only once, so you need to be prepared because there is no coming back. You need to plan well against those guys, ensure that your bases are covered…”