NEWS
Follow UsFive-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have historically always come on top of close contests, but, uncharacteristically enough, that’s not been the case in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). And on May 11 (Saturday), MI were on the wrong side of another close encounter as they slipped to an 18-run defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
After restricting KKR to 157 with the bat in a rain-curtailed encounter, MI were flying at 59/0 at the end of five overs and looked set to spoil the home side’s party. But, despite having the upperhand, Hardik Pandya’s side eventually ended up falling short to suffer their ninth defeat of the campaign.
At the post-match press conference, Piyush Chawla, who was one of the standout bowlers in the game for MI (2/28), said that his side is suffering due to their inability to win ‘big moments’ in matches.
“Obviously, we have a brilliant lineup but sometimes things haven’t fallen into place,” Chawla said post the KKR clash.
“In big games, you have to win small moments that matter. We’ve been losing those small moments. Today also, we started off brilliantly but that spell from Narine & Chakravarthy made the difference.”
On the night, between them, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy combined for figures of 7-0-38-3 to derail Mumbai’s chase. The latter was named Player of the Match for finishing with figures of 2/17 off his 4 overs. Chawla said that the spin duo made the difference on the night.
“We had the momentum but we have to give credit to the KKR bowlers, they bowled really well, especially Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. It’s because of them that we got stuck in the chase.”
But the 35-year-old defended MI’s tactic to just play a solitary spinner all season, despite the top two sides in the league (KKR and Rajasthan Royals) finding success by deploying multiple spinners.
“The game has changed and our fast bowlers did a fantastic job. It’s not about the spinner from the other end, it’s about whether you have enough bowlers who are complementing each other well,” Chawla said.
“I don’t really think we missed a spinner or need another spinner going forward, our fast bowlers are doing a great job. If things don’t go well for our fast bowlers, I can say that, ‘yes, I need another spinner’ but as long as we’re bowling well in partnerships, it doesn’t matter.”
When asked what’s gone wrong for MI this campaign, the veteran said that they’ve simply struggled to put the pieces together and haven’t been consistent enough in all departments.
“Sometimes we bowl well and end up not batting that well. Sometimes we bat well and the bowling is not up to the mark. It’s not that we’re lacking in one department. As a unit, we’ve failed in a few games and we have to accept that fact as a team. Because it’s a team game and these things tend to happen.”
The nine losses MI have suffered in IPL 2024 is the second-worst for them in a campaign, behind the 10 they suffered back in IPL 2022.
