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Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah's comeback and splendid batting by Tilak Varma, captain Hardik Pandya could not save Mumbai Indians (MI) from a defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Wankhede Stadium on April 7. Opener Rohit Sharma got off to a good start but could not convert it into a big score as he lost his wicket to left-arm pacer Yash Dayal. After the 12-run loss, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene defended Rohit again as he lost his wicket to another left-arm pacer. Jayawardene said that right-handed batters' have naturally struggled against left-arm pacers.
"For right-handed batsmen, left-armers [dismissal] is a natural thing," Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference. "It's been there for many years. I can remember Vaasy [Chaminda Vaas] doing the same thing for many teams, Wasim Akram doing the same thing, so it's just a natural angle. I'm sure Rohit's been working on it, he's been practising hard and he's a very experienced player."
Rohit hit a couple of fours and a six in his nine-ball 17 cameo before Dayal got rid of him with an inswinger. Jaywardene credited Dayal for bowling a good delivery. The former Sri Lanka captain said that Rohit is working hard to improve his game.
"He was trying to give us a good start and he played some really good shots. [Dayal] actually bowled a good ball. It was late-swing and fuller, got through Rohit's defence. When you have played the game for that long, you need to sometimes give credit to the bowlers as well. I wouldn't read into that too much, but yeah, it's something that I'm sure Rohit will work hard on," he added.
Jayawardene concerned about diminishing returns in powerplay overs
Jayawardene said that powerplay has been a concern for MI with both and bat. MI have been the most expensive side in the powerplay overs this season and it has halted their momentum.
"The powerplay is a concern for us with the ball and the bat. In the last few games as well, we were leaking too many runs with the ball in the powerplay as well. We got an early wicket today as well - first over - but then they counter-punched, played some good shots, and we just did not react well to that. These are the margins and then they had a big sixth over, which really hurt us in that powerplay," the 47-year-old said.
With the bat, he rued losing early wickets and not being able to exploit the fielding restrictions in first six overs.
"With the bat as well, I thought we had a good start but just couldn't continue. We lost those two wickets and then we had to consolidate a little bit and lost a bit of momentum there. We had a few big overs in between but we just weren't in the game in that first ten overs. The margins are small in this competition and we're not hitting our strides and that is a concern."
MI are eighth on the points table with four losses from five games. Their next match is against an in-form delhi Capitals (DC) on April 13.
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