"We probably got behind in those first 10 overs" - MI's Mahela Jayawardene reacts after third loss on the trot

While Pat Cummins single-handedly sealed the match for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene rued his IPL team's slow start with the bat. Led by Cummins’ joint-fastest IPL fifty, KKR beat MI by five wickets in Pune to cement their place at the top of the IPL 2022 points table.

At one stage, 140 seemed like a challenging total as Rohit Sharma’s boys huffed and puffed to 98 for 3 after 16 overs. On a pitch which many labelled as "tricky", Jayawardene felt that the five-time IPL champions couldn’t up the ante even after a sedate powerplay – they were 35 for 1 after the first six overs.

“There’s a little bit in it [the pitch]. We saw in the other two games that were played here as well – with the new ball, it’s always hard to work through. So we knew we had to be patient, not to give too many wickets. I thought we built it up nicely, we probably got behind in those first 10 overs even after the powerplay, just to establish ourselves because we were losing wickets.

“It’s a good challenge to have...we’re playing in four venues, so for us to have different surfaces is always good. Something for the bowlers, something for the batters, that’s the challenge that you want in IPL,” he told reporters at the post-match press conference.

However, an 83-run stand between Suryakumar Yadav (52 off 36) and Tilak Varma (38* off 27), along with a late cameo from Kieron Pollard (22* off 5), helped MI reach 161 for 4. Surya, making a comeback from a finger injury, revealed at the halfway mark that they had chalked out a plan for the final seven overs and that it was executed to perfection.

Asked what MI's theory was during the 13th-over time-out, Jayawardene said that he wanted his batters to get used to the pace of the wicket and then take the attack to the KKR bowlers. He didn't even want his batters to spare KKR's frugal spin duo of Sunil Narine (0 for 26) and Varun Chakravarthy (1 for 32).

“We knew that they have a strategy where they bowl their spinners at the back end as well. So we needed to make sure that we had guys who could take them on – Surya was one of them. But initially, it was a tough wicket. There was steep bounce and there was little bit in it. And we felt that we got stuck a little bit and then we were behind and we needed to have that par score – so that was the plan in the 13th over.

“And with those couple of big overs at the end, we got to a par score and we were in the game for pretty much all the way. And then, again like the last few games, we weren’t ruthless enough to close games off,” the Sri Lankan great said in response to a Sportskeeda query.

Chasing 162 and a third win in four games, KKR needed 35 off the final five overs. But all it took was just six legitimate deliveries for Pat Cummins (56* off 15) to make jaws drop. Left-arm pacer Daniel Sams (1 for 50) was plundered for 35 runs in the 16th over as MI suffered their third successive defeat.

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“Some of the execution has been poor” – Jayawardene opens up on MI’s bowling woes

Pat Cummins and KL Rahul now share the record for the joint-fastest IPL fifty, coming off 14 balls [Credits: IPL]

While the Mumbai Indians and slow starts to an IPL season go hand-in-hand, the margin for error will be small in a 10-team tournament. They are currently ninth in the table, with an NRR (net run rate) better than just the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Mahela Jayawardene pointed to the 11 more shots the Mumbai-based outfit have at redemption, while reiterating the need to finish games with the ball.

“It’s always tough when you have a start like this. But we need to look at the positives – we’ve been playing some really good cricket, it’s just that we’re not closing games off. All three games, we were in it and we were not able to finish it off. So these are concerns especially with the ball, that we are not executing at the back end under pressure.

“Some of the execution has been poor, so we need to brush up on that. It’s a long tournament – three games [defeats], yeah it is tough but we need to make sure that we get a win and get into that good habits. And anything can happen, especially with 10 teams. There are a lot of teams who are going to beat each other up, so we’ve to make sure we’re in it midway through the season,” the 44-year-old concluded.

According to the IPL 2022 schedule, Rohit Sharma's team will try to get off to a good start against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday at the same stadium. On Sunday afternoon, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will face the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Brabourne Stadium.

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