I Think We Fell Short At Reading The Wicket: Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi Capitals suffered their fourth successive loss in IPL 2020 as Mumbai Indians gunned down a modest target of 111 with nine wickets to spare in Dubai. Delhi Capitals’ batting line-up has failed to fire in the last few matches, rendering their star-studded bowling line-up even more ineffective. Shreyas Iyer conceded that the first few wickets in the powerplay dented their momentum.

After electing to field first, Mumbai Indians reduced the Delhi Capitals to two wickets in the powerplay. Skipper Shreyas Iyer and keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant could not get the quick runs coming as the Mumbai Indians’ bowlers were on point. Shreyas Iyer was the one, who top-scored with 25 as none of the other batsmen could deal with the opposition bowling. Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult shared six wickets between them, conceding 39 runs in eight overs.

Ishan Kishan and Quinton De Kock began steadily in what was not a steep chase. De Kock departed in the 11th over; however, the defending champions were in the driver’s seat by then. Kishan remained unbeaten at 72 off 47 deliveries with eight fours and three sixes as Suryakumar Yadav accompanied him to drive their side home. With that victory, Mumbai Indians have accumulated 18 points with one match to go.

“Not thinking much about the future, trying to stay in the present” : Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer revealed that he misread the wicket and that the first few quick scalps did not let them recover. The right-handed batsman conceded that there are plenty of flaws to point out; however, they must stick together at this point and believes that 150-160 would have been a stiff total. Iyer calls for the Capitals to be fearless against the Royal Challengers next up and does not want to think about the very distant future.

“I think we fell short at reading the wicket. We weren’t up to the mark, those wickets in the powerplay took down the momentum. It was important that we built partnerships but it happened in bits and pieces. Lots of flaws to point out but we’ve got to believe in ourselves. You actually can’t anticipate how the wicket’s going to play right from the start. Once the openers get a momentum going, you can read it and 150-160 is a good score on these sorts of wickets. We’ll have to be fearless [against RCB] and keep things simple. It’s an important game for us, do-or-die depending on how they play today. Not thinking much about the future, trying to stay in the present,” Iyer said in the post-match presentation.

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