Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated that his team failed to execute their plans against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a rain-curtailed game in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday. He also said that MI missed their line and length, while the opposition did well on the conditions and batted well. Stunning bowling from the trio of Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, and Ravi Bishnoi, and swashbuckling knocks from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi helped RR beat MI by 27 runs as well.

“We had some plans, but I don’t think we executed those. The margins are very small. These guys are practising really well. We knew the danger, especially when it is rain-curtailed, and they have the license to go up front. I think we missed our line and lengths, and they played really well,” said Jayawardene.

Put to bat first, RR scored 150/3 in 11 overs, with Jaiswal (77* in 32 balls, with 10 fours and four sixes) and Suryavanshi (39 in 14 balls, with a four and five sixes) smashing all over the park. In the run chase, MI lost wickets regularly, with Burger (2/21), Sandeep (2/25) and Bishnoi (2/26) being the pick of the bowlers in the game as well.

“We just needed a couple of partnerships. We lost a few early wickets and lost the momentum. If you look at the end, the difference was four sixes. It was four hits for us, [but] we just couldn’t find that.” Jayawardene said.

“And that without us getting into a rhythm or someone getting a quick 30 or 40 up top. We never thought that it was out of our reach. So, those were the margins. I think they played a really good game today. We were not good enough, and that’s what we have to work on,” concluded Mahela Jayawardene.