Mahela Jayawardene, the head coach of the Mumbai Indians, acknowledged that his team has struggled with powerplays this season. MI’s loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday, April 8, was their first home loss of the season, despite the fact that they have lost four of their five games.
After being asked to bat first, RCB amassed their highest-ever powerplay total versus MI, 73/1, in the first six overs. On the other hand, given the circumstances of the game, the hosts could only muster a mediocre 54/2.
“With the ball and the bat, the powerplay is a concern for us,” Mahela stated following MI’s 12-run loss. “We have also been losing wickets [with the bat] and not getting the starts in the last few games because we were giving up too many runs with the ball in the powerplay.
We also took an early wicket today, but we didn’t respond well to their counterpunch and skilful strokes. The margins are as follows. We were severely harmed by their massive sixth over, which was bowled by Deepak Chahar. We failed to appropriately close the powerplay. I felt we got off to a strong start with the bat as well, but we were unable to sustain it. Following the loss of those two wickets, we had to somewhat regroup and lost steam. Even during the powerplay, we had a couple significant overs in between, but we were out of the game for the first ten overs [during the chase].
“There is cause for concern as we are not making progress and the margins are narrow in this race. Although we are playing cricket well, we are not playing well enough.
In their most recent game, MI also lost by 12 runs in Lucknow, where a costly 69-run powerplay once again proved to be the deciding factor. Deepak Chahar, a swing bowler who hasn’t had the best of seasons, was given the new ball even though Jasprit Bumrah was back for this match against RCB. Chahar has the second-worst economy among bowlers who have bowled more than five overs during powerplays this season, surrendering runs at 11.30.
“I don’t think chasing was the wrong decision, where we went wrong was with our execution with the ball where we could have controlled things much better,” Mahela stated. We need to give our two swing bowlers a chance first. Additionally, Booms [Jasprit Bumrah] was returning from a three-month hiatus, so we wanted to ease him into the tournament.
“We need to understand that the skills were brilliant but there are areas for us to improve.”
Hardik Pandya, the captain of MI, put on a spectacular display, smashing 42 off 15 balls, but ultimately, it was unable to reach the enormous total of 222.
“With the talent that we have, we know we are always in the game,” expressed the head coach of MI. We are aware that the majority of the guys are matchwinners and that all we need to do is exercise patience. Our inability to maintain that tempo is the only problem. They also bowled well, bringing in the two spinners who didn’t miss much, so we had to calm down when we lost those early wickets. After that, we formed partnerships. certainly, if you reached the tenth or twelveth over, you know you can give yourself a chance. I certainly spoke with Hardik about that when he came to bat. After I told him to try and see if he could get in three huge overs, he did, and the momentum shifted.
Mahela had underlined the need to be more “ruthless” following the defeat in Lucknow, and he did so again after the loss in Mumbai.
“I continue to support all of the guys I put out there, including the veteran pros. They are skilled, in my opinion; we simply need to be a little more brutal,” Jayawardene remarked.
Sometimes we lose discipline with the bat and the ball, and we miss out on those one or two overs. Therefore, we must address that issue. It’s not a good thing to lose. You begin to question yourself, and occasionally a new person entering this type of position may find it even more difficult since they lack experience. The males with experience are mentally tougher and know how to deal with difficult situations. We will rely on that going forward and make sure to put a lot of effort into bringing the team together, staying upbeat, and playing the next game.”
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