Mumbai Indians (MI) are having a tough time in the second phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in UAE. They have suffered defeats in four out of the five games so far, with the latest one coming against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Sharjah on Saturday (October 2).

The defending champions could only manage a modest 129/8 in 20 overs, which DC chased down with four wickets and five balls to spare.

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After this loss, MI are languishing at seventh place in the eight-team points table but their bowling coach Shane Bond on Saturday said they are "still in the competition".

"We are playing okay, we know that we are playing nowhere near our best, but we are still in the competition. We'll see what happens. We only had fine wins, but if we can get two wins under our belt and a few results go our way," Bond said in the post-match press conference.

Mumbai Indians will take on Rajasthan Royals in their next match at the same venue on Tuesday (October 5).

"I don't think the plan will change too much. We've got a couple of areas we need to tidy up. We know we're still in the competition, even though we lost today."

According to Shane Bond, they were around 20 runs short of the winning total against Delhi.

"We thought if we got a score around 145 it would probably be a winning total which probably proved to be right.

"Look, the bowlers gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game, but I think Delhi played well in the middle, they took some chances and we knew that it was going to get tougher."

Bond praised Surya Kumar Yadav who seemed to have found his mojo back with a 26-ball 33 before being dismissed by Akshar Patel.

"He (Surya) just played how he normally he plays. He's hitting the ball beautifully in training. He was getting that fluency and looked like the way he played last season. it's just unfortunate that he's getting out."

(With PTI inputs)