Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya on Monday urged his team to show a bit more "discipline" and "courage" to turn things around after suffering a third successive loss in the IPL 2024. (As It Happened | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Asked to bat, MI were left tottering at 20 for 4 in the fourth over and they just couldn't recover fr🎀om the disa🍃strous start, managing only 125 for nine in the allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Rajasthan Royals overhaule♕d the target with 27 balls to spar💦e for a six-wicket win.
"We didn't start the way we wanted to, tough night tonight," Hardik told the broadcasters after the match.
"Results, sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't. I don't thꦛink much surprises me anymore. But as a group we believe we can pull off a lot of better things going forward and we just need to be more disciplined and show m🅰ore courage."
It was Hardik's 21-ball 34 which pushed MI's total. But things went downhill after he was sent back by Yuzvendra Ch😼ahal.
"I think we were in a decent position to give us a chance to get to 150 or 160 but I think my wicket changed the game and🦩 brought them🧔 more in the game and I think I could have done better," he said.
The bowlers had a good day in office with Chahal (3/11) and Trent Boult (3/22) setting up the win for RR.
"It's good to have something for the bowlers as well. The game is quite cruel to the bowlers. But it was unexp♓ected. It's all about doing the right things," Hardik said.
RR skipper Sanju Samson said the toss played a cr🌄ucial role in deciding the fate of the match.
"(The toss) I think that was the gamechanger. The toss was very crucial. I felt it was too sticky to start off and we had the experience of Trent Bo𒁃ult and Nandre Burger's speed," Samson said.
"(Boult) has been playing international cricket for so long and we expected him to deliver. I didn't expect four or five wickets downꦏ, but it was great.
"We ♏all do our roles and move on. Someone like R Ashwin knew we had a good powerplay so he didn't go for wickets, just kept it tight. So it's about teamwork."
Chasing 126 for a win, RR were reduced to 48 for three in the seventh over but Riyan Parag blasted a 39-ball 54 not out, his second su🍌💞ccessive fifty this season, to take the team home.
"Actually, I've simplified everything instead of trying to do a lot of things. Earlier when I wasn't getting runs I would try a lot of differenꦕt tꩵhings. This year, it's just seeing the ball and hitting the ball," Parag said.
"When I play domestically this is the exact kind of situations I go into bat. When Jos (Jos Buttler) bhai and Ash (R 𒉰Ashwin) bhai got out, I thoug🎃ht to myself this is what I do in domestic cricket. So that's what I calculated.
O🧸n the difference between domestic cricket and IPL, Parag said: "I have had three-four years of not performing at all. And you really go back to the hotel room and think when you know you can do it and the results are not coming, you go back to the drawing room.
"I r♏ealised I wasn't practicing at this kind of level so I went and did that."
Boult was awarded the Player of the Match for his three wickets in the powerplay with two of them -- Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir -- comi🌺ng in the first over itself.
"Never say it's a certainty in the ꧟format, but it was nice to get the wickets. We created early pressure, nice to take some wickets and glad the result went our way," he said✨.
Boult also termed 🔥South Africa's Nandre Burger a "great f𝓀ind".
"Bowls with great skill and p🤡lays with his heart on his sleeves. Sandeep obviously missed out but he'll play a big role in the season. Excited to be part of this bowling attack."
