Hardik Pandya emphasized the importance of individual and collective introspection for the Mumbai Indians team after their fifth defeat in IPL 2024, urging players to learn from their mistakes.
Mumbai Indians faced a heavy 9-wicket defeat against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Speaking at the post-match presentation, skipper Hardik Pandya admitted to an off-day with bat, ball, and field, acknowledging RR’s dominance. He praised Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera’s 99-run partnership but felt MI fell short by 10-15 runs.
Mumbai Indians struggled in both bowling and fielding departments during the powerplay, failing to take wickets or control the scoring rate. Piyush Chawla was the lone wicket-taker amidst dropped catches, a departure from MI’s usual standards. Despite a decent effort from Jasprit Bumrah, late runs conceded hurt. Debutant Nuwan Thushara didn’t leave a mark, and key players like Coetzee, Nabi, and Pandya didn’t deliver.
Pandya admitted to bowling errors and fielding lapses, acknowledging a subpar performance overall. MI’s loss keeps them in seventh place, making their path to the playoffs increasingly challenging with each match.
“We put ourselves in trouble early on. The way Tilak (Verma) and Nehal (Wadhera) batted – that was fantastic. I don’t think that when we lost a couple of wickets early we thought we would even reach 180. We didn’t finish well and that’s why we were 10-15 runs short,” Pandya said.
“We had to keep it within the stumps. Early on in the powerplay, we gave a lot of width and I don’t think it was our best day in the field as well. Overall, we did not put the right foot on the park and eventually, they outplayed us,” he added.
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Pandya also emphasized post-match reflection for both individual players and the team, stressing the importance of learning from mistakes to avoid repetition.
“After the game, it’s not the right time to go to the players, everyone is professional, they know their roles. What we can do is learn from this game and the mistakes which we have made, rectify it and make sure that we don’t make it. Progression is very important. Within the team, individually, we will have to accept our flaws and maybe work on those. I don’t believe much in chip and chop, I like to back players and the focus would always be to play good cricket, sticking to our plans and making sure that we don’t make the basic errors. Cricket is simple, as long as we keep it simple, it’s nice,” the skipper concluded.
Last Updated on April 23, 2024
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