Mumbai Indians all-rounder Ben Cutting said the team fell 20 runs short against Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Asked to take first strike, MI posted 168/6 after racing away to 86/0 in 10 overs. MI lost four wickets for the addition of just 37 runs from overs 11 to 15. We added no more than 44 in the last five overs.

“From what I saw, it was a little bit difficult with the dew factor in the second innings. Which is why you generally want to win the toss and try and chase. But, to be honest, we were probably 20 runs short with the bat. That was probably the difference,” Cutting said.

Cutting also praised Buttler for his fantastic 94 not out. “We were pretty close to (executing) our plans tonight. We missed with the execution of a few balls here and there but that happens in Twenty20 cricket. Jos (Buttler) is in red hot-form and he’s got (more than) 500 runs this season. His confidence is high and he is striking the ball well,” he added.

Cutting said our batting unit should have capitalised on the start provided by openers Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav. “I’m not going to put it to their bowling. Probably I direct it to our batting. We have lost three to four quick wickets in a few overs for not many runs. So, when you lose something like 3/20 or 3/30, it’s tough to build up,” he explained.

He also rued our losses early in the season. “Go back to the first three or four games of the season that we lost in the last over. Had we won two of those games before the last over, we wouldn’t be having the same conversation. We would be sitting comfortably with 14 to 16 points,” he said.

MI have to win their last two games in order to be in the reckoning for the playoffs.