New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) Mumbai Indians (MI) stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav conceded his side were 15-20 runs short with the bat, which led to them losing to Delhi Capitals (DC) by six wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
On a slow pitch where shot-making was tough, Suryakumar top-scored with 51 as MI made 162/6. But DC chased down the target as the pitch got better to bat under lights, with Sameer Rizvi making a swashbuckling 90.
“I think it was a decent wicket. We expected it to be a little on the slower side, but still, from a batting point of view, we were a little short, 15-20 runs, but I don’t want to take any credit away from their bowlers, and also they batted really well in the second innings,” Suryakumar said after the game ended.
On Rizvi’s second consecutive fifty of the competition, Suryakumar said, “Absolutely, I mean, at 7 for 2, someone coming in like that and batting the way he batted, I think a lot of credit goes to him. He never let us come into the game.”
Suryakumar felt the pitch remained largely the same across both innings but credited the opposition for reading the conditions better. “I think it was quite similar. It didn’t change too much, but the way they batted, I think they batted very beautifully. They understood the conditions really well in the second innings and batted beautifully,” he said.
Suryakumar also said MI had targeted 180-185 as a par score but fell short of achieving it. “We felt 180-185 was a good score. We fell short by 15-20 runs. I think Naman and I, we both got out at the wrong time during the 16th and 18th over, otherwise we would have at least got above par.”
Despite the setback, the skipper remained optimistic, as MI now travel to Guwahati to take on the Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday. “There’ll be days like this when you try, and it won’t work, but we will go back to the drawing board, work hard, and come back in the next game,” he said.
–IANS
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