Bowling has been an Achilles heel for Mumbai Indians throughout IPL-16 and on Friday, their bowlers once again came a cropper in the face of the run-fest unleashed by Gujarat Titans’s opener Shubman Gill at the Narendra Modi Stadium here.
Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher was not willing to blame his bowlers, but conceded that the absence of Jasprit Bumrah (back injury) and Jofra Archer (elbow) left a big hole in their bowling attack. “If you lose two stars in the bowling, you’re going to have a couple of holes,” Boucher said during the post-match media interaction.
“We tried to fix it as much as possible; hopefully, the guys can get over their injuries. If they can’t, we may have to look at other places,” he said.
Mumbai were the only team to witness six 200-plus totals from their opposition. They also conceded over 190 runs twice this season. “Sometimes you can look at the figures and say our bowlers were going for a lot of runs,” Boucher pointed out. Defending Mumbai’s inexperienced bowling line-up, he said that they improved as the competition went along.
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Mumbai Indians have had the reputation of being slow starters in almost every season. This year too, they began their campaign with two defeats. And at one stage it appeared as if they were going the same way (downhill) as the previous seasons.
However, they bounced back to reach the Playoffs. “[Making] the Playoffs is a good achievement. [I’m] Obviously disappointed about tonight’s result, but I thought we fought right till the end,” the former South African wicketkeeper remarked. Boucher didn’t want to point fingers at anyone. “To open a can of worms now will be stupid,” he said.
He conceded that this was the time to introspect and decide the future of “certain individuals and where they are from a fitness perspective.” He said: “It’s important to sit back and reflect, take the emotions out of it and then take calm decisions.”
Rohit Sharma had a poor IPL with 332 runs from 16 innings and only two 50-plus scores. “Rohit is a quality player. He led from the front with regards to driving the way we wanted to play,” Boucher said in defence of his captain.
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