Don’t think we’ve played enough good cricket this season: Hardik Pandya

Another game, another defeat for Mumbai Indians -  their ninth of the Indian Premier League 2024. This is the second-most number of defeats Mumbai has suffered in a single season. Nothing has worked for Hardik Pandya and his men, who are now likely to finish at the bottom of the points table.

Chasing a target of 158 in a rain-curtailed 16-over match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Ishan Kishan got Mumbai off to a flying start. The left-hander smashed 40 off 22 and MI were 65/1 in 6.5 overs when he got out to Sunil Narine. 

That was the only time they looked alive in the run-chase, with the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav failing to keep up the momentum. The two faced 38 deliveries between them and could only score 30 runs. Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir did their best but MI still fell short by 18 runs.

“Tough one, yeah. As a batting unit, the foundation was there but we could not capitalize after that and keep the momentum up. The wicket was a little up and down and a little tacky so momentum was very important. I think it was a par score, given the conditions, felt that the bowlers did well,” said Pandya.

Mumbai’s last match is against Lucknow Super Giants on May 17. “Nothing, just to go and enjoy as much as we can and play good cricket, that’s been my motto from the start. I don’t think we’ve played enough good cricket this season.”

Meanwhile, KKR became the first team to officially qualify for the playoffs and skipper Shreyas Iyer seemed pretty pleased with his unit. I think I manifested this before the game (on becoming the first side to qualify for the playoffs),” said Iyer. 

“Nerves were there, boys have been raising their hands and there have been many game-changers and kudos to each and every one of them. I feel whichever team plays the best, they got a great chance to win.”

Varun Chakaravarthy was named Player of the Match. The spinner got the wickets of Rohit and Pandya and conceded only 17 runs in his four overs. “The plan was to make him (Rohit) hit across the line. Obviously, there was help from the wicket, and I was able to use it to my advantage. 

Talking about bowling in tandem with Narine, Chakaravarthy said: “Tactically we (talking about Narine) are similar, but technically we are slightly different. The wickets were too flat initially, my bowling has been same from the first match and it is just that the results are showing up now.”

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