Mumbai Indians Must Get Ruthless Again After LSG Setback

Mumbai Indians encountered a hard loss against Lucknow Super Giants despite Suryakumar Yadav hitting a half-century and Hardik Pandya remaining unbeaten. This was unexpected to many fans since both these players usually make the team win. Their head coach Mahela Jayawardene spoke after losing. He stated that the team was not intelligent at crucial moments of the game and must be more ruthless in batting and bowling.

Jayawardene feels the team had the match in their control most of the time. Even after losing two wickets early they remained near the target. But towards the end of the last few overs they did not make the correct decisions and were unable to complete the match. He added that it is early days in the season and this is the time to learn from errors and play better cricket. He termed the loss as setback particularly since Mumbai had won their previous game against Kolkata Knight Riders and were looking to gain momentum.

He identified that the team committed numerous small mistakes particularly while bowling. They conceded too many runs during the powerplay. As a matter of fact, they conceded 69 runs in the first six overs which is the second highest on that ground. The pitch was slow so bowling fast wasn't the right idea. Jayawardene stated Hardik Pandya played to his experience and bowled slower balls according to the conditions. That tweak helped recover the game and provided Mumbai Indians with a good opportunity to chase the target.

Jayawardene conceded that the team has to be more intelligent. They had the upper hand in batting and yet were unable to take the game home. He wishes the players to be sharper with their decision making and better at execution at critical moments. He also said that it is fine to win at home but winning away games is also something good teams have to do.

Since 2023 Mumbai Indians have struggled in away games. They lost 14 of their previous 19 away games. This season they lost all three away games played so far. When asked about this trend Jayawardene said that in the first two games they did not have rhythm and were outplayed. But in the latest game he felt that the team played like themselves. Still the bowling needs fine-tuning and the batting needs to finish games.

Jayawardene explained playing away is always a test. Teams that win away from their home pitches are generally the ones who progress far in tournaments. He explained the players have to accept these tests and use them to improve. The IPL this year is still an open book. All teams are beating each other and the points table is tight. This provides Mumbai Indians with an opportunity to move back up if they can resume winning.

The silver lining is that Mumbai Indians have three of their next four games at home. Next up for them is Royal Challengers Bengaluru which should be an interesting game. Then they head out to play Delhi Capitals and come back to Wankhede to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. These are against quality teams so they will be crucial for Mumbai Indians. Winning these games can get them back into the top half of the points table.

In summary Jayawardene desires his team to be more ruthless. He feels they possess the talent and experience but now must make better decisions under pressure. With the likes of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav in the team Mumbai Indians still have a good chance to turn things around. But they need to work on their execution and be wiser at the later part of the game. Having home games scheduled soon it is the perfect time for them to bounce back and get momentum.