Concerns galore

“Even in the first game (against Gujarat Lions), we struggled with death bowling. I thought we can improve a little more. Two games in a row, and it is high time we start thinking and applying our mind about this in the meeting,” said Pandey in his post-match media conference at the Wankhede Stadium.

MI needed 64 in the final 30 balls but pulled off a sensational victory with one ball to spare, by riding on youngsters Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya’s counter-attack, after being reduced to 119 for 5 at the beginning of the 17th over.

“If bowlers hit yorkers consistently, it would be obviously difficult for the batsmen. They missed a few, we missed a few. They played very well in the end and we have to work a bit more on death bowling. We shall overcome this,” Pandey said.

Pandey felt Pandya is growing slowly and steadily in confidence. “He is a very good player and coming up to be a very good all-rounder. We have seen how he has batted and finished games for India at number 7. Slowly he has matured as a player. He is gaining in confidence from all these matches.” 

“The dew definitely played a big role as the ball comes on to the bat well. There is always an advantage (of batting second) if there is dew,” he said.

Two MI players were off the field for different periods during the run chase, and Pandey said while captain Gautam Gambhir should be fine after recovering from cramps, he was unsure how bad was the shoulder injury sustained by Australian batsman Chris Lynn while fielding. “He (Lynn) has put icing on the shoulder and it is too early to say anything,” Pandey said about the Aussie opener. 

“Mumbai is really hot, it is cramps, nothing major,” he said about Gambhir’s absence.

Mumbai Indians batsman Kieron Pollard has slammed Sanjay Manjrekar for his on-air comments about his batting against Kolkata Knight Riders, saying that the former India player suffers from ‘verbal diarrhoea’. Manjrekar had criticised Pollard, saying that he was only good enough to bat for the last six or seven overs of an innings. 

Pollard responded angrily to Manjrekar’s criticism in tweets. “@sanjayman jrekar u feel any positive can come out of your mouth bcuz u get pay to talk u can continue with your verbal diarrhea..,” Pollard said.