Arjun Tendulkar got a reality check in his fledgling IPL career for Mumbai Indians when he was smashed for 31 runs in the 16th over of the Punjab Kings innings before the hosts lost the game by 13 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night. Punjab got a huge boost after that costly over and accumulated 96 runs overall from the last five overs to finish at 214-8, stand-in captain Sam Curran top-scoring with a blazing 55 off 29 balls, before the visitors stopped MI at 201-6 in the run chase.
MI’s head coach Mark Boucher sprang to the defense of Tendulkar and at his post-match press conference, saying that the son of cricket icon Sachin will learn lessons from that one over as he progresses in his cricket career. “It was tough for him. It’s not easy to bowl at death at the Wankhede. He may have gone one or two [things] wrong. But he will learn from it. It’s not the end of the world. We hope he comes back stronger. He will have the full support from the support staff and players,” the former South Africa wicketkeeper batsman said.
Mark Boucher
Arjun conceded two sixes and four fours in that expensive over which was followed by another costly one from Australian all-rounder Cameron Green that went for 25 in the 18th over. “We were in control till the 15th over. They got 96 runs in the last five which was some hitting. We got it wrong [there]. I thought we dominated a lot of that game. But when we did lose, we lost big. We played some good cricket, but lost a bit in the last five overs.
“In T20 cricket, the game changes very quickly and it did during the course of one over. Unfortunately that one over went for quite a few runs and it created quite a bit of momentum for their [Punjab] batters and it became quite difficult for our bowlers at the back end. “We controlled it for a large part, but let it slip towards the end of our bowling. Now it’s about getting through this,” remarked Boucher.
Looking at the positives from the third defeat suffered by MI after a hat-trick of victories, Boucher singled out Suryakumar Yadav’s return to form with a typically belligerent 57 in 26 balls, that contained three sixes and seven fours and plenty of pyrotechnics, and Jofra Archer’s spells at full tilt in his comeback game after missing four IPL games in between, among the pluses.
Also Read: `No matter what…`: Brett Lee reacts to Arjun Tendulkar`s last-over blitz
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