Mumbai Indians faced another defeat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in Chennai on Friday against Punjab Kings. However, after the loss, Former India players Virender Sehwag and Ajay Jadeja shared their views over the defeat.
Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians could only manage 131 runs for 6 in their allotted 20 overs which Punjab comfortably chased down in 17.4 overs as well. Apart from Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav, others failed to contribute which cost them the game and they faced their third defeat in 5 matches as well.
However, Sehwag also criticized MI’s decision to promote the Ishan Kishan ahead of the in-form Suryakumar as Ishan scored 6 off 17 balls while came to bat at No. 3. Meanwhile, Yadav made 33 off 27 alongside the captain Rohit Sharma’s 52-ball 63.
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“The kind of form Suryakumar was in, he hit a fifty earlier, perhaps he could have taken more advantage of the powerplay. See, even he could’ve gotten out early but he had better chances. You are sending someone who hasn’t scored runs in 4 matches with hope that he will get you runs but you are demoting someone who has scored 2-3 out of your last 4 games. When 2-3 wickets fall quickly then there is pressure on that in-form player too,” Sehwag said to Cricbuzz.
“It would have been better had they sent Suryakumar early in the powerplay. He could have given the necessary momentum to the innings. The only good thing for MI was that Rohit and Suryakumar batted till the 15-16th over. They thought their big-hitters would play fearless cricket in the backend of the innings but that didn’t happen,” he shared again.
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Punjab Kings (PBKS) won the game on the back of their captain KL Rahul (60 not out), Chris Gayle (43 not out) and opener Mayank Agarwal (25) and also ended their three-match losing streak in the cash-rich league as well. On the other hand, Ajay Jadeja also questioned Mumbai Indians’ approach after their defeat.
“We were saying that MI are not playing well but they were scoring 150 at least but today they played well but got only 130. This was beyond me. You can play poorly, get out early but they came out today with their shutters closed, which is not their style of batting,” Jadeja concluded.
