CLT20: John Wright feels Mumbai Indians were 20 runs short

Dwayne Smith failed to give the team a good start

Mumbai Indians coach John Wright felt that they were 20 runs short with the bat, which ended up becoming the difference between the two sides. Mumbai Indians top order batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu failed to make substantial contribution and as a result, Mumbai collapsed to 43/4 in 6 overs.

However, late cameo from Keiron Pollard helped Mumbai to post a score of 142 runs on a seamer friendly wicket. Rajasthan Royals subsequently chased down the target with seven wickets in hand.

“It’s definitely not the start we wanted, but it’s a jolt and we have to lift our performance in every area in three tough games. The ball is in our court now. If we want to reach the semis, we’ve got to win our next three matches,” said Wright after the seven-wicket defeat.

“It was a good toss to win (for Rajasthan) but you can’t blame the conditions. They played the better cricket this evening. We knew it will be a tough game. They are a well-organised side and know their conditions well. And we were probably 20 short with the bat,” he said.

On a pitch which had tinge of grass, Mumbai Indians surprisingly decided to play with two spinners – Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha.

“That was something we considered carefully,” he conceded. “But we know that using two spinners last year, they were very effective. It didn’t prove the case tonight, and that was one of the situations we considered. We were hoping the ball would grip a little more if we were in the field first. But I don’t think you can lay this defeat at our bowling and fielding performance. We needed to get a few more runs, even though it was challenging at the start. Sometimes there’s not a lot in these games.”

Mumbai Indians now have a significant task on hand. They need to win at least three matches to stay alive in the competition, which is a tough task. They will travel to Ahemadabad where they take on Otago Volts and Highveld Lions.

When Highveld Lions played against Mumbai Indians in 2012 Champions League, they defeated them comprehensively by eight wickets.