“Was Good, Main Bowler…”: MI Head Coach Mahela Jayawardene On Deepak Chahar’s Final Over vs GT

Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mahela Jayawardene said her team had made an error in execution and lost the match despite the control of the Gujarat titans in the IPL, adding that the five-time champions will treat each remaining match as an “elimination” from here. The Gujarat Titans won their fourth consecutive victory against the Mumbai Indians with a narrow victory with three gates in a rated rainy match. After MI was limited to 155 for eight, GT had slipped to 126 for six, but a second rain interruption saw the target revised 15 necessary in the final.

GT has overcome the line on the final ball to go to the top of the point table, while MI will now have to win its two remaining games to qualify for the playoffs.

“I think that sums up. These are margins, but I am probably, the two teams made a lot of mistakes in the middle and we probably made more than them,” Jayawardene told the media after the match.

“We were in a situation where we had (had) five games, four defeats (and) a victory. From that moment, we were (in a) essential (situation) about every match. We had a very good race. The tournament is difficult and a good thing is that we play teams in this bran, so we are probably controlling our own destiny.

“We probably had 30 points short from this counter and the guys played very well, created a lot of opportunities, very well aligned (and) was fighting for everything, so these are good signs and we will treat each game as an eliminatory match for us now,” he added.

In the final, Deepak Chahar conceded a four and a six and also made a ball while GT tightened at home.

However, Jayawardene said that Mi had lost control of the game when they were still at the top and that it was the reason for their defeat and not the ordinary final of Chahar.

“I could have played (Will Jacks) Jacksy, Karn Sharma, or anyone (was) left (with) Overs, but I think Deepak did this job for us in the first games too. He was good, the main bowling player (he) could have (our way),” he said.

“It is easy for you to ask me this question and for me to say, yes, perhaps Hardlik. (But he had) disappeared for three six, (then) you would have asked me why you did not bowpa, so I don’t like going.” “It was not the decision, it was the execution and it was not where we lost the game. My thought is (that) we lost the game when we had control and it was disappointing,” he added.

GT assistant coach, Patet Patel, defended his medium and lower strikers after having struggled to hunt a moderate total on a surface suitable for the striker, in particular when their first three – B Sai Sudharsan (5), Jos Buttler (30) and Shubman Gill (43) – did not succeed in converting their departures.

“They barely had the opportunity to beat. Today was the only day when none of the first three obtained fifty. Otherwise, until today, everyone had obtained these races. It is just a game of one. But after having said, we would obviously have had to make some of the good decisions,” he said.

“We always want to improve. We always want to improve once the end of the tournament begins,” added Patel.

(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)