Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene has revealed the reason behind demoting Suryakumar Yadav to number five in the batting order against Punjab Kings at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wednesday. After MI lost two early wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan in the powerplay overs, many experts expected SKY to bat at his usual position of number four.
However, it wasn’t to be the case as Mahela Jayawardene decided to send Tilak Varma at number four. Jayawardene revealed that he didn’t want SKY to bat when the ball was still new in the powerplay and wanted to hold him so that he could take the game deep.
Furthermore, Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma provided a right and left-hand batting combination for MI. The duo also vindicated Jayawardene’s move as they added a quickfire alliance of 84 runs to help their team get back into the contest after two early wickets.
On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav played a fine knock of 43 runs off 30 balls but it was not enough for MI to get over the line in the run-chase of 199 runs. Yadav has been in sublime form as he has scored runs in all the three matches he has played. But Kieron Pollard was run-out at a crucial stage and it turned the game in PBKS’ favor.
“Today was to try and take the game deep, because we were playing with six batters. And there’s no better person than Surya to finish a game off. And in that situation, in the powerplay, they would swing the ball a bit and all that. So I didn’t want Surya to go into that situation and not be able to play his natural game also. It was just a tactical thing.
“The two young guys, we know what they are capable of. So given them a bit of freedom to go and control that situation, so that Polly and Surya are able to chase that. That was the initial thinking. It’s a call that we will take depending on how we’ve set up tactically against certain oppositions and stuff like that,” Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma got off to a blistering start as he scored 28 runs off 17 balls but he could not convert his start into a big score =. The MI captain hasn’t been in the best of forms and thus the team is not getting off to good start. However, Jayawardene backed Rohit Sharma to bounce back stronger in the upcoming matches.
“If you look at the way he starts, the way he hits the ball, it’s brilliant. He’s timing it, he’s getting some really, really good starts. Yes he’s disappointed as well, that he’s not being able to convert them. We’ve seen Ro batting deep, batting for 14-15 overs and getting those big scores. It’s just a matter of time. He’s a quality player and I am not concerned about the form as such,” the 44-year-old remarked.
The five-time champions will now move to Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai to take on new entrant Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday.
