After an embarrassing 9-wicket defeat at the hands of Punjab Kings (PBKS), Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma on Friday (April 24) admitted that something is missing in their batting line-up as they are not being able to bat 20 overs to the potential.

Invited to bat first, the defending champions posted a below-par 131/6 in 20 overs. Rohit was the lone warrior with the bat, scoring 63 off 52 balls (5 fours and 2 sixes).

In reply, PBKS rode on captain KL Rahul’s unbeaten 60 off 52 balls and Chris Gayle’s 35-ball 43* to overhaul the target with 14 balls to spare.

"Not enough runs. I still feel it is not a bad wicket to bat on. You saw how Punjab Kings batted and won the game with 9 wickets in hand. It is just the application which is missing in our batting. If you get 150-160 on this wicket then you are always in the game, that is something we failed to do in the last two games," Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"You can look at it either way, I thought their bowlers bowled well in the powerplay, Ishan was trying to hit but couldn't get it and even I was not able to hit. We have batted well in the powerplay previously but today we failed to do so. Something is missing in our batting line-up, we are not able to bat 20 overs in the fashion we want and something that we have to look at and see what we can do," he added.

When asked about sending Ishan Kishan over in-form Suryakumar Yadav at No.3, Rohit said: "It was just a tactical thing, we wanted someone who would bat well against the spinners in the middle and SKY was the one to do that."

"But when you play on such a challenging pitch then you have to be ready for all the possibilities. When you try, if it works it looks good and if it doesn't work then it looks bad, but we always back the decision we make. We are not putting enough effort on the field and when the conditions are tough you need to understand how you need to bat and how you need to bowl," he further remarked.

Mumbai Indians will take on Rajasthan Royals in their next match on April 29.

(With ANI inputs)