MI fell to a third-consecutive loss of Tata IPL 2022 after a five-wicket defeat to KKR.

Venkatesh Iyer’s half-century and Pat Cummins’ 14-ball fifty took KKR past the line and skipper Rohit Sharma gave credit where it was due.

“Never expected him (Cummins) to come and play like that so credit to him. The pitch got better and better to bat as the game went on. It was holding up initially,” felt Rohit.

The captain praised the batters for getting 76 runs in the last five overs - courtesy Suryakumar Yadav’s fifty, Tilak Varma’s useful 38* and Kieron Pollard’s 22 off five balls - on a tough pitch.
 

“Overall it was a good pitch. With the bat we did not start well, in the last 4-5 overs to get 70+ was a great effort from the batting unit,” he said.

However, he did admit it was a tough loss to take, considering MI’s position in the match.

“We did not bowl according to the plan. We had the game till the 15th over, but then Cummins was brilliant. Whenever you have runs on the board, we always have the upper hand. We had them 5-down, it was just a matter of the wicket of Venky or Pat, they also had Sunil (Narine) who could smash them. This will be hard to digest, the way it turned out in the last few overs. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us,” he stated.

Head coach Mahela Jayawardene addressed the post-match press conference and talked about how MI planned well to get the maximum out of the last few overs in the batting innings.

“We knew that KKR had a strategy of bowling their spinners at the back end too and Surya was key to taking them on. The wicket was tough initially, there was some steep bounce. We were a bit behind but we got to a par score with those big overs at the end and were in the game,” revealed Mahela.

There have been three defeats on the trot now and Mahela wanted the team to get that elusive first win soon.

“It’s always tough with a start like this. We had a chance in all three games but were not able to close it off which is a concern. It’s a long tournament but we need to make sure we get a win and get into some good habits. Anything can happen, especially with 10 teams and make sure we are in it midway through the season,” he stated.

“The young guys like Tilak have been fantastic, Brevis in his first game did well. We just need to work with them and think about the combinations we have to play,” concluded Mahela.

It was a rough result tonight but we can bounce back on April 9th against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Pune.