Commitment and resilience were undoubtedly the most significant talking points of Mumbai Indians’ matchup against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Though it was a 31-run loss, the MUM-boys left no stone unturned in putting up a confident fight against SRH, who posted the highest-ever IPL target that was just a tad too far for us in the end. 

Tim David, who contributed to the cause with a 22-ball 42, gave his honest thoughts about the run-fest and the game in the post-match press conference.

Starting with the obvious question—how the dressing room was after being handed a target of 278—the Singaporean-born Aussie star said there was no pressure and that it was all about sticking to the basics.

“The talk in our dressing room is that we believe in our batting unit. We chased down some high scores last year, which was sticking to our approach as you can't look at the total itself. It's a process to get to that stage, and I think we were keeping up with the rate at a certain point. So, although we didn't get the runs, it was a great batting performance from us, too,” he said.

There was a special shoutout to a player who soaked up the pressure at his home ground and played a structured half-century to help the team in its cause.

“Tilak (Varma) played beautifully. Hitting the ball cleanly is close to the best of what Tilak's got. I say that because I still think he's got more than that as well, and we saw a pretty special innings tonight. Yeah, it's always great to see your teammates playing well down the line; I have a lot of faith that it will result in wins for us.”

Lastly, Tim also spoke of what he thought was the defining factor of the pitch, which had 500-plus runs in it.

“It was a pretty true surface, wasn't it? There wasn't a lot of seam movement, and there wasn't a lot of spin. We saw at the end when SRH took the pace off bowling to the pitch, and it seemed to be the hardest thing to hit. I haven't looked at the statistics, but I'm sure they did that more than we did, and it was harder to hit. Yes, that could've been the first 200 game. You've got to be good to get into the IPL and play on a team, and we saw some pretty special performances tonight.”

Paltan, don't worry, these are just a couple of early hiccups. Remember, this team knows how to fight, what it means to make a comeback, and what it means to win. And there is no better place to stage a change in fortunes than our fortress, our home, our Wankhede.

We return to the field on Monday, April 1, 2024, and will host the Rajasthan Royals. There is some lovely history involved in our favour here, and let’s ensure we celebrate it in style and with a W.