Former England captain and commentator Kevin Pietersen wasn’t happy with Kieron Pollard's captaincy, as the Mumbai Indians (MI) allowed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to make a comeback from a precarious situation to win the IPL 2021 game in Dubai on Sunday (September 19).
CSK were at 24/4 at a point on Sunday, thanks to early strikes by Trent Boult (2/35) and Adam Milne (2/21), but the stand-in skipper Pollard missed the trick by not bowling Jasprit Bumrah (2/33) for 2-3 overs early in the game, offering golden opportunity to allow Chennai to roar in Chennai.
As Mumbai managed to score 136/8 in 20 over to lose the IPL 2021 game by 20 runs against Chennai, Pietersen said MI should have been tactically smarter on Sunday.
Pietersen said during the innings interval on Star Sports: “Mumbai started so well. They really got themselves into the game. They knew they needed to get themselves going. They lost their captain (Rohit Sharma) so he was replaced. And they started so well. CSK was 4 down very early. Ambati Rayudu retired out. When you get that many wickets early, you have to keep your foot down. You talk about momentum; you need to keep it going.”
He continued, “I think Mumbai Indians missed a trick. I don't know what Kieron Pollard was thinking by not bowling Jasprit Bumrah for 2 or 3 overs. They could have been 40/7, 50/7. CSK could have been 60, 70, or 80 all out. I'm not being silly when I say that. You have got to bowl your fast, strike bowlers.”
Bumrah was taken off after just one over as Pollard handed the ball to Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar and they leaked the runs as Ruturaj Gaikwad (88*) and Ravindra Jadeja added 81 runs to bring CSK back into the game, that’s where the MI lost the game, according to Pietersen.
He signed off by saying, “They were allowed into the game. There is nowhere in this world that they should have been in this game. Mumbai Indians should have cleaned them out. These are things that are discussed in team meetings. If you had been 40/4 or something like that, you don't bring spinners in and if you do, you don't put fielders in the boundary.”
