Chennai: Mumbai Indians (MI) slipped into their third defeat in five matches in the Indian Premier League as they suffered a humiliating nine-wicket defeat against Punjab Kings. Skipper Rohit Sharma feels Mumbai’s batting line-up was the major reason behind this defeat.
Mumbai Indians scored 21 runs at the end of the powerplay and at the halfway mark they were at 49/2. If not for the 79-run partnership between Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai Indians would have struggled more.
“Something is missing in our batting line-up, we are not able to bat 20 overs in the fashion we want and something that we have to look at and see what we can do. Not enough runs. I still feel it is not a bad wicket to bat on. You saw how Punjab Kings batted and won the game with 9 wickets in hand,” Rohit said after the match.
“It is just the application which is missing in our batting. If you get 150-160 on this wicket then you are always in the game, that is something we failed to do in the last two games.”
Backing Mumbai Indians bowlers Rohit also said that his bowlers performed well in the powerplay. ” You can look at it either way, I thought their bowlers bowled well in the powerplay, Ishan was trying to hit but couldn’t get it and even I was not able to hit. We have batted well in the powerplay previously but today we failed to do so,” he added.
When asked about sending Ishan Kishan over in-form Suryakumar Yadav at number three, Rohit said, “It was just a tactical thing, we wanted someone who would bat well against the spinners in the middle and SKY was the one to do that. But when you play on such a challenging pitch then you have to be ready for all the possibilities. When you try, if it works it looks good and if it doesn`t work then it looks bad, but we always back the decision we make. We are not putting enough effort on the field and when the conditions are tough you need to understand how you need to bat and how you need to bowl.”
