The four-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have maintained their dominance in the ongoing IPL 2020 by finishing the group stages as the table toppers and bowling coach Shane Bond hailed the franchise by saying “no one really wants to play” against the defending champions.
The defending champions MI has displayed a scintillating performance with both bat and ball from Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult to Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav all have shown their best in the ongoing IPL 2020 so far.
Ahead of the first playoff game against Delhi Capitals, Bond said MI is so strong that’s why no other team wants to play against them fearing the damage the franchise can do to the opposition.
Bond said in a virtual press conference, “You do not want to see you tailenders bats and our top order is scoring runs some big runs. I think the bonus from the batting point of view is Kieron Pollard got to face 20 balls and whacked it. So, it puts him in great shape for the finals. I think our batting lineup is as good as any other team has in the tournament.”
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He further added, “Our bowling line up is also as good as anyone in the tournament and I think we are the team that no one really wants to play because they know we play well and we can do some damage. We have won tight games and that makes a huge difference.”
On MI’s 10-wicket loss to SRH on Tuesday, the bowling coach said: “Obviously we did not play well but it was one of those days that we knew we have qualified so the game did not have any impact on our tournament. I think everybody is excited about what awaits us a challenge against Delhi Capitals and we are looking forward to it. You have to give credit to SRH they were obviously up for a must-win game. They played beautifully but you need to think about the long term.”
Bond further explained the reason behind resting Boult and Bumrah before the final league game against Hyderabad, saying: “We had a very busy schedule and with back to back fixtures and then travelling so much we thought of giving rest to Boult and Bumrah.”
He signed off by saying, “And I think both of our boys enjoyed the rest and we now have our bowling squad and everybody has played a game so it puts us in a really good position.”
(With ANI Inputs)
