NEWS
Follow UsAfter losing three consecutive games, Mumbai Indians had to release the monkey off the back. Led by Hardik Pandya, they seemed devoid of any plans and combinedly misfired to give a somber look. However, everything changed against Delhi Capitals on April 7 (Sunday) when a collective performance downed the Rishabh Pant-led side by 29 runs to secure their first points of the year.
Going into the encounter, Mumbai Indians made three changes to their line-up, with Suryakumar Yadav, Romario Shepherd, and Mohammed Nabi coming into the side. Shepherd, in particular, had a major role in the game, collecting 32 runs in the last over against Anrich Nortje - from which DC found it really hard to recover. Hardik Pandya was very happy about the performance and added that today’s combination will largely be their 12 going forward, with certain tactical changes thrown in between.
“It was a lot of hard work. We had to clear our minds and make sure that we believed. We will be making tactical changes here and there but this will be our 12, and settling our team now is important,” Pandya said in the post-match interview with broadcasters.
“There's a lot of love and care going around in the changeroom. Belief and backing each other is the attitude out there. Everyone believed we needed just one win,” Pandya added.
After Mumbai were asked to bat first, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan got them off to a flyer, adding 75 runs in the powerplay. Pandya (39 off 33), however, struggled to score at a decent pace and that allowed Delhi to make some sort of a comeback in the middle overs. But then, Shepherd happened. The former Delhi Capitals player faced only 10 deliveries but still hit 39 runs, with 32 of those coming in the final over of Nortje.
“Everyone believed we needed just one win. It was an amazing start today, always wonderful to get 70-odd in 6 overs. The way everyone chipped in when the opportunity was coming was good to see. Shepherd won us the game. The difference was Romario v Delhi Capitals. I like him. Always has a smile on his face and doesn't run away,” Pandya added.
On the other hand, Rishabh Pant conceded that it was not easy to score at 15 runs per over in a run-chase after they were pushed to the limit by Mumbai batters. However, he doesn’t want to be overtly critical of the bowling unit.
“Definitely we were in contention, but we didn't have enough runs in the batting powerplay, especially when you're chasing such a big score., We batted well in the next few overs, but it's not easy to constantly score 15 rpo for many overs,” Pant said.
“Yes, we had a few bad overs (with the ball), but it does happen at times. The bowlers needed to bowl into the wicket, slower ones and the variations were important. The bowlers needed to understand the conditions well. I think we need to improve on a few areas - death-over bowling and our batting as well,” Pant added.
