After suffering an eighth defeat in 11 matches, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya seemed to be groping in the dark for answers to all the unanswered questions that haunted the five-time champions in yet another disastrous IPL season. Pandya was handed the captaincy after the franchise removed national captain Rohit Sharma, something that the fans didn't really embrace as the colorful Baroda all-rounder was booed every time he entered the field. “There are a lot of questions that will take time to answer. But for now, there is not much to say. Obviously, we could not form partnerships and kept losing wickets. Bowlers have done a fantastic job on this track,” Pandya said after his speech. The team failed to score 170 and lost to KKR at home for the first time in 12 years.
Pandya felt it was better to sleep late in the evening once the dew had fallen, but MI failed to take advantage of this.
“The wicket got better if I'm not wrong. Dew came in the second innings. We will go through the match and see what we can do better,” he said.
Pandya tried to put on a brave front as he talked about fighting till the last match.
“You keep fighting, that's what I keep telling myself. It's a challenge, but you rise to the challenges.” His counterpart Shreyas Iyer was elated that his team is on the cusp of a play-off berth.
“We are knocking on the door at the moment. A lot of thought would have gone behind that (if we had lost today). I just heard about the statistic (that KKR has not won in Wankhede for twelve years)… ” The “Impact Player” rule helped KKR as Manish Pandey, who came in at the fall of the fifth wicket, contributed 42 priceless runs.
“This Impact Player rule specifically helped us in this match. Manish saw an opportunity from the first game. We achieved a commendable total. I told the boys that if we are here, we can defend it,” Iyer said .
He was full of praise for the performances of spin twins Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, who both returned with identical figures of 2 for 22.
“Spinners were unreal, absolutely perfect in executing their lines and lengths as discussed in team meetings. Kudos to them,” Iyer said.
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