Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond rued our second loss in as many games, but made it clear that the squad will bounce back soon. “I think we had a pretty good chance to win. To be fair, it was down to the final wicket. We went to the last ball of the last over. When Billy (Stanlake) went up in the air, we were thinking of the Super Over, but we fought really well to get ourselves into the position where we could win the game. It was just not quite good enough. It was a tough loss for us. We’re playing some good cricket, but (also) some not good cricket at times like these today,” the Kiwi said at the post-match press conference at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Bond put down the loss to “some decision-making errors”. “We could have played a little bit smarter, kicked off a little bit, pushed the score to 160-170, which was very difficult against their bowling attack. I can’t remember the number of wickets in the end of their bowling spell or just before the Powerplay ended, just little things like that can make the difference. But we were still confident at the halfway point. We had enough runs to win the game. We didn’t start very well but we knew we had a great bowling attack. And, like the last year, on a wicket that was difficult, we bowled really well to get ourselves into a position to win,” Bond said.

The 42-year-old expressed confidence over the team’s bouncebackability. “I think it’s about the quality in our squad across the tournament. Looking at the nature of this tournament, you hope you win but there are these tight ones. We had that in the last two (games), so it’s tough but we know we’re already going to get better with the quality of our squad, I’m very confident that they’re going to bounce back in the season,” Bond said.

He also praised Mayank Markande for his four-wicket haul. “He’s taking the form from the nets and the practice games and showing that in the game. We’ve talked about the length he bowls, we know he’s difficult to pick. So if he bowls the length that asks batsman to make decisions, we know it’s going to be difficult, he’s bamboozling very good players and is very consistent with his performance. That’s his real strength, the consistency and I think that’s underrated in this game. I think if you can put the ball in the same spot and have variations like him, you can get wickets. He got a great temperament and I’m excited for his start, he’s been brilliant for us,” Bond said.

Speaking about Hardik Pandya, who missed Thursday’s game with an ankle injury, Bond said, “We didn’t want to risk him for this game, considering his ankle got hurt in the last game. He’s in Mumbai for couple of days, hopefully he’ll be fit for the next game.”