After losing to the Lucknow Super Giants by 12 runs, their head coach Mahela Jayawardene is correct to urge his team to be a little more “ruthless” with the bat and the ball. When Hardik Pandya stays undefeated in a run chase and Suryakumar Yadav gets a half-century, the Mumbai Indians rarely experience defeat.
“I think it’s early season so we need to be a bit more ruthless when we’re in those kinds of situations to try and finish a game off,” Jayawardene stated. “I think halfway point, even at the 14th over mark, I think we were in it, 12 balls, 14 balls out, we were par score with them… we had the game in control most of the time even after losing those two early wickets but it was just disappointing that we just couldn’t finish it.”
Jayawardene called the defeat a “setback,” particularly considering that MI, who had a sluggish start to the season, had beaten the Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede in their last game.
According to Jayawardene, “I have to be honest, it is a setback,” “We obviously made a lot of mistakes, particularly with the ball. We should have probably limited them by maybe 15 to 20 runs, but we still had momentum batting-wise even after dropping early wickets. I attributed it to our inability to execute what needed to be done in some circumstances and our lack of intelligence. So we simply have to return. We would love to win away games because we only have one home game and three away games, but now we have to focus on getting points and then keep going.”
After choosing to field first, MI gave up the second-highest powerplay score of 69/0 at the always slow venue.
Jayawardene mentioned how MI captain Pandya modified his bowling to fit the pitch after taking five wickets.
Given his expertise, he understood that we did give up too many runs in the powerplay and that this [bowling slowly and back of length] is probably what he needed to do. All we had to do was slow down a little, which we ought to have done during the powerplay as well. I believe this is the reason these guys are seasoned; they adjust to situations quite well and recognise possibilities, and he undoubtedly saved the game for us with the ball and gave us a good chance of chasing this score,” Jayawardene stated.
MI has lost 14 of their 19 away games since 2023. This season, they have dropped their last three away games. Is their road form a cause for concern?
“I think the first two games we did not have the rhythm, I think in Chennai and GT we got a bit outplayed but here I think we’re back at what we’re doing best,” the head coach of MI stated. “Obviously, batting must execute and complete a game, and I believe our bowling needs some fine-tuning.
It goes without saying that travelling has hurdles, and successful teams strive to win away from home. Furthermore, it is most likely written for us to ensure that we play quality cricket at home and win those games. The event is still open because all of the teams are beating one another. We have a chance to try and salvage some points from it because we have some challenging, good games coming up against clubs that are higher in the table than us.”
MI will host three of their next four games, beginning with the much awaited matchup with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. After playing the Delhi Capitals up north, they return to Wankhede to welcome the Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in back-to-back games.
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