The Mumbai Indians’ head coach says his batters have tailored nicely to the problem of enjoying on sluggish wickets in Chennai
The Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mahela Jayawardene feels that his batters have tailored nicely to the problem of enjoying on sluggish wickets in Chennai, but there are areas the place the crew could “still improve”, referring to the middle-overs batting particularly of their earlier match in opposition to the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
After efficiently defending 152 in opposition to the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Mumbai bowlers have been as soon as once more adept of their defence of 150 in opposition to the Sunrisers. Legspinner Rahul Chahar starred once more as he turned the sport round with contributions from Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, as Sunrisers fell from 71 for 1 to 137 all out within the chase. But on each events, Mumbai’s batting by no means hit prime gear, particularly within the center overs the place they significantly slowed down after getting off to an honest begin within the powerplay. Against the Sunrisers, Rohit Sharma’s efforts took them to 53 for zero within the powerplay but Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Vijay Shankar utilized the squeeze thereafter, which meant their run charge by no means crossed 7.50 after the tenth over.
“Probably the last game was a bit off an off one for us but the previous two games I think our tempo was very good,” Jayawardene mentioned. “Overall, we are very happy but knowing Rohit, he will keep pushing the guys. If we haven’t hit those marks, he will bring it up and want us to improve. I think last game we have to consider that we were up against two quality spinners in Rashid and Mujeeb, especially in the middle overs, and at the same time we lost a couple of wickets.
“You aren’t going to have the identical breakfast on daily basis, proper? So if we maintain having the identical factor, it is fairly straightforward for the opposition to plan in opposition to us. So we want to try to change relying on the opposition, on the circumstances”
Mahela Jayawardene
“I believe contemplating all that, we dealt with the state of affairs higher to set it up within the final two overs and get that par rating. We at all times try to get to the par rating on the day on that wicket can be an excellent rating. There are areas we could enhance but pretty happy how things are.”
The Sunrisers bowlers, on Saturday, exploited the slowness of the surface, conceding just a single boundary between overs ten to 16. The onus was once again on Mumbai’s lower middle order to drag them to a competitive total, just as they had done against the Knight Riders. After the match, Sharma had also said that they could do better in the middle overs, but was mindful of the fact that it hasn’t been easy to bat at the venue especially against spinners. “I assumed we had an excellent rating for this pitch,” Sharma had told Star Sports. “Having mentioned that, we are able to do higher within the center overs. The pitch is getting slower and slower, bowlers are at all times within the recreation until 20 overs. Even the seamers, it isn’t straightforward to get them away and the slowish nature makes it more durable for the batter to slog straightaway”.
“Yes, the wickets are barely on the slower aspect but nonetheless seeing scores of 150-160, the opposite day we noticed 200,” Jayawardene said. “On a given day relying on the opposition how you method can have that totally different variable. They are not unplayable wickets. They are good aggressive wickets and adjusting to these challenges is at all times the important thing for any batsman. I believe we have been according to that method. It’s been difficult but we now have tailored pretty nicely. Sometimes we’ll make errors and that is a part of the sport.”
On the day, Mumbai also sent Kieron Pollard to bat at No. 5, ahead of Hardik Pandya – a move that paid off – as he blasted an unbeaten 22-ball 35. Jayawardene put the move down just to tactics, adding that they also wanted Pollard to get more time in the middle.
“You aren’t going to have the identical breakfast on daily basis, proper? So if we maintain having the identical factor, it is fairly straightforward for the opposition to plan in opposition to us. So we want to try to change relying on the opposition, on the circumstances.
“Especially in this kind of competition, we need to keep everyone guessing on what we are going to do. That was the process. Obviously, Polly [Pollard] got a bit more time in the middle early season, which we could give him in the first few games. We have a very versatile line-up where guys can bat depending on situations. They understand we’re going to utilise that.”
Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo