IPL 2021: We Needed One Guy To Bat Deep - Kieron Pollard On Why MI Lost The Match

Mumbai Indians’ (MI) stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard was disappointed with the batting performance put up by his side. Having restricted Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a fairly decent total, MI faltered in their chase.

At the post-match presentation ceremony, Pollard rued the lack of partnerships and an anchor which meant the side couldn’t stay in the chase till the end.

“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.”

“We could have learned 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. Can’t let that happen at this level, but we still have six games to go,” Pollard said.

MS Dhoni-led CSK move to the top of the table with the 20-run win

CSK was off to a poor start losing four wickets in the powerplay. However, Ruturaj Gaikwad carried over his form from the first leg earlier this year and ended up top-scoring for his side with an unbeaten 88* off 58 balls. He found able allies in Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo.

The target of 157 was going to be tricky as the pitch was on the slower side. Although Quinton de Kock started well, his dismissal triggered a phase where MI lost wickets in clusters. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan looked patchy while debutant Anmolpreet Singh couldn’t do much.

MI lost the match by a comfortable 20-run margin in the end, with Gaikwad deservingly taking home the Man of the Match award. It was the perfect start that CSK was looking for as it took them back to the top of the table, having secured six wins in eight matches.

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