Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma feels they should have chased down 169 runs against Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday but admitted they didn’t bat well enough. MI bowled well to restrict LSG to 168 after Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first.
KL Rahul scored his second hundred of the season against Mumbai Indians as the LSG captain once again repeated his previous score of 103 runs off 63 balls. However, none of the other LSG batters could get going and it looked like MI was ahead in the game after the first innings break.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians got off to a decent start though Ishan Kishan failed to find any kind of timing. Kishan meandered to eight runs off 20 balls and he was dismissed in the most unlucky manner. Rohit Sharma once again got off to a brisk start as he scored 39 runs but couldn’t convert it into a big score.
Subsequently, Dewald Brevis and Suryakumar Yadav were dismissed cheaply to leave MI tottering at 67-4. The asking rate kept climbing above 12 runs per over but Tilak Varma gave a glimmer of hope to his team with his quickfire knock of 38 runs. However, Kieron Pollard could not get going as he scored 19 runs from 20 balls.
Thus, Mumbai suffered their eighth loss of the season and the five-time champions continued their dismal show.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “I thought we bowled pretty okay. It wasn’t easy. It was a good pitch to bat on. I thought that score should have been chased down, but we didn’t bat well enough. When you have a target like that, it is important to string partnerships. But some irresponsible shots in the middle, including mine. We didn’t get the momentum. They bowled really well. We haven’t batted well enough in this tournament. Whoever plays in the middle needs to take that responsibility and go on to play long innings. Some of the opposition players have done that and that is what is hurting us. One guy needs to ensure that he bats as long as possible.”
He added, “Everyone has come into discussion given how our tournament has gone. We need to ensure that we have a settled team and give players in the middle a fair chance. Their roles are different when they play for their countries and here we expect something else from them. We tried not making too many changes, and we have tried to play the best combination possible. But when you lose games, you always have such discussions. As far as I am concerned, I want to give people enough chances to prove themselves. The season hasn’t gone the way we would have wanted it to, but such things happen.”
Mumbai Indians just haven’t been able to come up with a collective effort in the ongoing season as they have failed to register a single win. MI will play their next match against Rajasthan Royals at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Saturday.
