Mumbai Indians (MI) endured yet another crushing defeat in the IPL 2024 season on Monday (April 22). The five-time champions went down against Rajasthan Royals (RR) by nine wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Opting to bat first, MI posted 179/9 on the board, courtesy of Tilak Varma’s 45-ball 65 and Nehal Wadhera’s 24-ball 49. Sandeep Sharma starred with the ball for RR, picking up five wickets by conceding only 18 runs in his four overs.
In reply, the hosts rode on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s unbeaten hundred (104* off 60 balls) to overhaul the target with eight deliveries to spare.
After the match, MI skipper Hardik Pandya admitted to being outplayed by the opposition but added that he would not get into any immediate dissection of the loss.
"We put ourselves in trouble early on. The way Tilak and Nehal batted - that was fantastic but we didn't finish well and that's why we were 10-15 runs short. While bowling, we had to keep it within the stumps. Early on in the powerplay, we gave a lot of width and I don't think it was our best day in the field as well. Overall, we did not put the right foot on the park and eventually they outplayed us," Hardik said in the post-match interaction.
"After the game, it's not the right time to go to the players, everyone is professional, they know their roles. What we can do is learn from this game and the mistakes which we have made, rectify it and make sure that we don't make it," he added.
It was MI’s fifth defeat in eight games this season. They are currently occupying seventh spot in the 10-team points table. However, Hardik Pandya is still backing his players rather than thinking about making changes to the team combination.
“Progression is very important. Within the team, individually, we will have to accept our flaws and maybe work on those. I don't believe much in chip and chop, I like to back players and the focus would always be to play good cricket, sticking to our plans and making sure that we don't make the basic errors. Cricket is simple, as long as we keep it simple, it's nice,” the MI captain remarked.
Mumbai Indians will next face Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Saturday (April 27).
