IPL 2021: “MI showed a lot of character to drag the match till the last over” - Jayant Yadav
Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder Jayant Yadav has credited his team for putting up a tough fight against Delhi Capitals (DC), despite their six-wicket loss in Chennai.
Yadav had a good all-round game for MI. He chipped in with 23 with the bat to push MI's total past 130. He returned to the field to send back Prithvi Shaw for seven, conceding only 25 runs in his four overs.
Speaking after MI’s defeat on Tuesday, Yadav opined that they did not put enough runs on the board. He said in this regard:
“It was a tough wicket, and we were 10-15 runs short of the par score. But when we bowled, there was a lot of dew, and I think we showed a lot of character to drag the match till the last over.”
The 31-year-old observed that MI were confident of winning the match at the halfway stage, saying:
“At half time, we were very confident that we were gonna pull this off. It was just about having a good powerplay and taking wickets in the powerplay and just trying to restrict them. In the middle, we did let the game slip a little bit because of the wet ball. But full credit to our bowling unit. To drag the game to the last over with the wet ball, it was a very commendable effort from everybody, and the fielding as well (was good).
We didn’t capitalise on our start in the powerplay: MI captain Rohit Sharma
MI only made 137 for 9 after batting first and winning the toss against DC. But the defending champions looked good for a bigger total, as they were cruising at 67 for 1 in the seventh over before a batting collapse saw them stumble to 84-6.
Reflecting on his team's defeat at the post-match conference, MI captain Rohit Sharma admitted that they should have done better after a good start in the powerplay. He said in this regard:
“After the start we got, I thought we could have batted well in the middle overs, which we didn’t do. We didn’t capitalise on the start in the powerplay, which we failed to do again. Credit to Delhi bowlers – they kept the pressure up and kept taking wickets.”
The MI captain also played down the dew factor.
“We knew dew was going to come in. We saw in the last few games that it’s not that difficult to grip the ball. Dew is not really the factor. You need to play smart cricket to win,” he added.
Following their second defeat in four games, Mumbai Indians have slipped to fourth place in the points table. The five-time champions will conclude the Chennai leg of their IPL 2021 campaign against the Punjab Kings on Friday before they travel to Delhi.