Mumbai Indians will be keen to bounce back quickly against Chennai Super Kings when the two three-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. MI lost their last encounter against Kings XI Punjab, but they will be confident about their chances against CSK with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock and Hardik Pandya giving us glimpses of what they’re capable of in the previous match.

Mumbai’s batting in the middle overs has been called into question recently, but our highest run-getter this season, Quinton de Kock – 110 runs in IPL 2019 – backed his teammates to come good soon “I think in T20s it’s always important that one of your top three or top four batsmen bats through the middle overs at all times. It’s always nice when you have one of the top three or top four batting in the last couple of overs. We haven’t really done that in this tournament so far. It’s not always easy to come into tough situations and then we lose quick wickets. It’s never easy and it puts you under more pressure than you should be. It’s tough but I’m sure our batsmen will come back (stronger),” he told reporters at the pre-match press conference.

The South African wicketkeeper also backed all-rounder Kieron Pollard and spoke about the strength of MI’s batting. “The beauty of our batting order is that you don’t have to rely on one person. There are so many people there in our batting order that can just win a game for us. So, we’re not too worried about Kieron. Obviously, he’s done so well for the team (in the past) and he will come back stronger for sure,” de Kock said.

Skipper Rohit and de Kock seem to have struck a good understanding following two fifty plus opening stands from three innings together. While elaborating on their approach at the top, de Kock revealed: “Rohit and I are very flexible (in our approach). We both assess the situation as it is. When he’s scoring all the boundaries, I try to give him all the strike and when I’m scoring the boundaries, he gives me the strike. So, we just try to read the situation and if we’re both scoring runs then so be it, we’re both scoring runs. You know then there’s no real game-plan, we just do it naturally together.”

He was also sympathetic toward our bowlers, who have been up against it on difficult batting surfaces in our first three games. “I think the last three wickets we’ve played on have been batsman-friendly and in the IPL the bowlers are always under a lot of pressure. It doesn’t matter who you are, but I’m sure the bowlers in our team will stand up. They do very well for their country and so far, they’ve done well for – when possible – Mumbai. So, I’m sure they are going to stand up for us very soon,” de Kock said.

The left-handed opener also had an update on Jason Behrendorff, who recently joined the MI squad after Australia’s ODI series triumph over Pakistan “Obviously, he’s just been here for a couple of days. I’m sure he’s still getting used to the whole team environment. We’re still getting to know each other, but he’s been a very good addition to the team since he’s been here… he’s just having a net session, getting used to conditions. I’m sure he’s just going through the paces to make sure he has a good tournament,” de Kock added.