“We had our opportunities, but we were not good enough”: Mahela Jayawardene

“We had our opportunities, but we were not good enough”: Mahela Jayawardene

By Mumbai Indians

Another heartbreaking night for Mumbai Indians as it all came down to narrow margins, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru snatching a victory off the last delivery, winning the contest by two wickets 💔. It was indeed a game that swung from one side to another. MI fought, clawed and stayed in the contest till the very end, but alas it was not meant to be on the given night at Raipur. Addressing the media in the post-match press conference, Head Coach, Mahela Jayawardene, reflected on the loss and backed the players to still give their best with three games remaining in the season.

Firstly, speaking about youngster Raj Angad Bawa bowling that final over, Mahela said, “All our experienced bowlers were done with their quota and we only had a few spinners left. Surya backed himself while Raj is also a decent bowler. During training he executes those wide yorkers consistently. He stuck to his line and picked the wicket of (Romario) Shepherd. He too was under pressure. We fought well; it was a game of margins. Probably we should have executed better at the end.”

Sharing his thoughts about a rather disappointing finish, he added, “Yes, this season has been disappointing. We had our opportunities, but we were not good enough. We were not consistent with bat and ball, which showed in the margins as well. We were two or three wins away from being contenders to get into the group for the playoffs. We did not get those wins and today was a classic example of where we fell short.”

On being asked what went wrong, as MI’s batters could only score 11 runs in the last two overs during the first innings, MJ opined, “We did try our best. The wicket was uneven at that point. I thought in the night there was a bit of dew. Our boys were trying to hit big shots not knowing what a good score would be on this particular wicket. So, you tend to have a few dot balls in the middle. We were simply not good enough on this day.”

Further he was questioned on why Mumbai Indians were not able to play like the champion side they have always been… since there were a lot of expectations. Also, what was the reason behind the many changes being made to the playing XI? Mahela reflected, “We had players with niggles, some were injured while some were not available. So, the changes were forced ones. Tactically we would have had just a few of them. There are no excuses. We have a quality side and we had to put our hands up and perform. Unfortunately, that did not happen.”

Finally backing the senior players and the core of the Mumbai Indians set up, the Head Coach concluded with, “We are a quality side. The core is trying to do their best. They were fully committed and have put in a lot of effort. Rohit getting injured and then coming back and giving his best. They have come here after playing the World Cup and even won it. The core group is very valuable for us.” 💙