Mumbai Indians’ captain Rohit Sharma was disappointed with the way they batted against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Monday after they lost by a huge margin of 52 runs. KKR posted a fighting score of 165 runs on the board after Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Rohit reckons his bowling unit did a good job in restricting the opposition at a sub-par score but the batting unit let the team down. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Mumbai Indians bowlers as he returned to form to take 5-10 in his quota of four overs, which was maiden five-wicket haul in T20 cricket.
Bumrah bowled a three-wicket maiden as he conceded only one run in the death overs. The fast bowler wasn’t in the best of forms but he showed his worth as he breathed down the neck of the opposition batters. The gun fast bowler accounted for Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, and Sheldon Jackson.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians came up with another disappointing batting show. The five-time champions kept losing wickets at regular intervals and it led to their downfall. Except for Ishan Kishan, who scored a fine fifty, none of the Mumbai Indians batters could get going in the run chase. Furthermore, MI missed the services of Suryakumar Yadav, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to left forearm muscle injury.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “I would take that total on that pitch. Was a great effort from the bowling unit, Bumrah was special. Disappointed the way we batted. Poor from the batters. Not really (difficulty of batting on this pitch). We are playing our fourth game here and we know what to expect here. We know seam bowlers will get some help from the pitch. We didn’t get partnerships and you need partnerships chasing a total like that. I don’t think so (if MI could have restricted KKR to a lower total). Looking at the way they batted in the first 10 overs, they were 100 runs in 10 or 11 overs. But the way we came back was brilliant. Great effort from Bumrah and the entire bowling unit. Batters let us down. It’s been that kind of a season where both departments weren’t consistent enough. It is something that we wanted to improve today but couldn’t do it.”
It has been a disappointing season for Mumbai Indians as they haven’t come up with a collective effort. There is no doubt that Mumbai should have done better in the run-chase as it was not a big score.
Mumbai will next face Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday.
