Mumbai Indians will have to wait until Thursday to have another shot at booking a spot in the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs. MI fell 34 runs short while chasing a mammoth target of 233 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. Hardik Pandya played an inspired innings that saw him score 91 from 34 balls which included nine sixes. However, his heroics alone weren’t enough to help MI get the win that would have secured our spot in this season’s playoffs.

Quinton de Kock spoke to the media at the post-match press conference and shared his thoughts on why we didn’t get the desired result. “Obviously we would have liked to lose couple of less wickets when Kieron (Pollard) and Hardik walked in. We tried to get up to a good start, there was too much to catch up with this kind of total. If you leave it too late, you would be out of the game anyway. We could have had it a different way, we could have easily gone off to a great start, but it’s unfortunate today. Obviously, there was a collapse and that meant trouble for us,” de Kock opined.

The South African wicketkeeper though made it clear that he has no regrets regarding the shot selection that led to his dismissal. “When you have a score of 230 to chase, I have to play a shot anyway at the start... just a case of how we had to go about it. Chasing 230, we have to take a chance against any bowler and get things going. If I had hit that ball for four or six you would say good shot. That's how it is,” de Kock said.

Both sides collectively scored 430 runs on the night and when asked about the long-term implications of such high-scoring games in T20s, de Kock said: “Bowlers are always under pressure. IPL is only played in India where the wickets are good and the boundaries are small. The ball does travel. By nature, it will be more batting friendly. You have to play yourself. When you go to Australia, there are bigger fields. Not all the wickets are the same.”

He also praised Man of the Match Andre Russell, who scored 80 from 40 balls for KKR. “I didn’t actually (enjoy his innings), I hated every minute of it. No, I am joking,” de Kock quipped. “He played a great innings, he took his time in the initial first balls and then did what he does, I can just appreciate what he has done, not just this game but through this IPL. Congrats to him and yeah, hope he doesn’t do it again against us.”