Lost our way after a fine start, credit to Mumbai Indians' bowlers: JP Duminy
Following their 15-run loss against Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League game on Friday, Delhi Daredevils batsman Jean-Paul Duminy lamented the middle order collapse and credited the Mumbai Indians’ bowlers for clawing their way back after Kevin Pietersen got the Daredevils off to a good start in the chase of 173 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Duminy said, ”From the batting point of view we had a very good start, but lost our way in the middle. We could not get boundaries. I have to give credit to Mumbai they bowled exceptionally well towards middle and back end of our innings.”
Earlier in the day, a third consective half-century partnership from their new set of openers Lendl Simmons and Michael Hussey propelled them to a score of 120 in the first 12 overs. The unfortunate run out of Hussey triggered a collapse that meant the Rohit Sharma-led side could only manage 173 on the board.
He said: “We did a hell of a job to restrict them to 173. At one stage we were looking at a score of over 200. But we knew if we can keep wicket taking mindset we had a good chance to restrict them. We always thought chasing was the easier option at the Wankhede. Unfortunately, we lost our way a bit in the middle and back end. One more (match) to go and hope we can win that.
“We have got great potential in our top four. We just did not fire today. They bowled really well and had smart plans against our batters. One over can change the game and unfortunately for us Mumbai bowled yorkers and we could not get under them. Their execution of plans was good.”
On the late inclusion of Pragyan Ojha in the playing 11, who replaced Praveen Kumar minutes before the scheduled start, he said: “Praveen Kumar twisted his ankle just before the start of play. They had to bring in a new one. It needed a discussion. At the end of the day we have to play whom we face. We would like to give ourselves a chance to win against anybody. But they bowled exceptionally well."