IPL 2021: We gave too many runs in the end overs, says Kieron Pollard

Mumbai Indians stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard admitted that they gave too many runs in the end overs against Chennai Super Kings at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on Sunday.

Mumbai had Chennai in tatters at 24-4 after MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. Trent Boult and in-form Adam Milne were able to strike twice in the powerplay overs.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was able to hold one end and his drop catch when he was on 19, cost big for Mumbai. Gaikwad was able to take the advantage as a settled batsman at the fag end of the innings. The right-hander was able to change gears and batted at the top of his game.

Chennai was able to score 69 in the final five overs as Gaikwad and Bravo took the attack to the opposition. Gaikwad scored 88 runs from 58 balls with the help of nine fours and four sixes whereas Bravo scored a quickfire knock of 23 runs from only eight balls. Thus, Chennai posted a fighting score of 156 runs, which looked way out of reach at one stage.

Krunal Pandya was taken to cleaners by Gaikwad as the left-arm spinner conceded 27 runs in his two overs.

On the other hand, Mumbai Indians could not find any momentum in their run-chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Saurabh Tiwary scored a fifty but he wasn’t able to change gears despite getting settled.

Kieron Pollard said while talking in the post-match presentation, “We must have got a partnership. You can do a lot of things differently in hindsight. Losing by 20 runs, I think that is the difference. Gave too many with the ball at the end. Their batters tried to continue the momentum throughout, we didn’t do that. We could have learnt from their mistake of losing too many wickets in the powerplay. We needed one guy to bat deep. We had a couple of soft dismissals. We can’t let that happen at this level, but we still have six games to go”.

Mumbai Indians were not accurate in their death bowling and Chennai’s batsmen were able to take the advantage. Mumbai will next face KKR in Abu Dhabi on 23rd September.