Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 2 (ANI): Following his side’s loss to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Qualifier two and their consequent elimination, Mumbai Indians (MI) coach Mahela Jayawardene expressed happiness with his team’s campaign and added that a few mistakes cost them.
Five-time champions MI ended their IPL campaign with a crushing loss to PBKS by five wickets at Ahmedabad on Sunday night, booking a title clash between PBKS and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Speaking after the match in the presser, Jayawardene spoke on the mistakes which cost their side a chance at the record-breaking sixth title.
“I think we probably left a bit of runs on the park with the bat and we lost our way. Those back-to-back wickets probably slowed us down a little bit, but I still thought 200 was a good score in a qualifier,” said Jayawardene as quoted by MI’s official website.
“The pressure picked up after those wickets as well up front (of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma), and I think a few mistakes cost us. The execution was not up to what our standard is,” MJ stated.
Jayawardene said that the wicket played well in both innings and credited his team for starting off well and staying positive despite the rain delaying the action.
“We put them under pressure and had two good top-order partnerships. We were going at 140 at one stage scoring 10 runs an over and, then those two back-to-back wickets probably slowed us down a little bit. I thought 200 was a decent score on this wicket on this ground. It’s just that we did not execute well.” said the coach.
On an up and down campaign, which saw the team bounce back from one win in first four games to register a six-match unbeaten streak to qualify for playoffs and beat Gujarat Titans (GT) in a high-scoring eliminator, he said, “I think it was a good campaign for us… the way we started and how we regrouped as a team and played some really good cricket is commendable.
“We had our opportunities, getting to the playoffs and we had a few good games first up. And even today, I thought we played some good cricket except for [Punjab] Kings playing better cricket than us. They executed that pretty well,” he concluded.
PBKS won the toss and opted to bowl first. After losing Rohit Sharma early, a 51-run stand between Jonny Bairstow (38 in 24 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Tilak Varma (44 in 29 balls, with two fours and two sixes) pushed MI forward. A 72-run partnership for the third wicket between Tilak and Suryakumar Yadav (44 in 26 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) helped MI keep a healthy run rate. All MI needed was a final push from Naman Dhir (37 in 18 balls, with seven fours) to take MI to 203/6 in 20 overs.
Azmatullah Omarzai (2/43) was the pick of the bowlers for PBKS. Kyle Jamieson, Marcus Stoinis, Yuzi Chahal and Vijaykumar Vyshak took a wicket each.
In the run chase, PBKS had some stumbles initially despite a blitz from Josh Inglis (38 in 21 balls, with five fours and a six), who took down Jasprit Bumrah for 20 runs in an over.
An 84-run stand between Nehal Wadhera (48 in 29 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and skipper Shreyas Iyer helped PBKS maintain the required tempo for the chase. After quick dismissals of Wadhera and Shashank reduced PBKS to 169/5 in 16.4 overs, a ruthless Shreyas (87* in 41 balls, with five fours and eight sixes) took down pace to guide his team to five wicket win with an over left.
Ashwani Kumar (2/55) was the top bowler for MI. Trent Boult (1/38) and Hardik Pandya (1/19) took one wicket each. Bumrah was wicketless for 40 runs in four overs.
Iyer was given the ‘Player of the Match’ honour for his clutch knock.
The final between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru is set for Tuesday at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. (ANI)
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed of ANI; only the image & headline may have been reworked by News Services Division of World News Network Inc Ltd and Palghar News and Pune News and World News
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