“He gave us nothing to hit” - MI bowling coach Shane Bond hails Mohammed Siraj for brilliant opening spell

Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling coach Shane Bond hailed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Mohammed Siraj for his excellent opening spell in the IPL 2023 match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, April 2. According to Bond, Siraj was too good for Mumbai’s batters in the game.

RCB won the toss and decided to bowl first in Sunday’s match. Siraj was superb in the powerplay, conceding only five runs in three overs while claiming the wicket of Ishan Kishan. With the runs not coming freely, Mumbai were forced to take risks and lost half their side for 98.

It needed a brilliant knock from Tilak Varma (84* off 46) to push MI to a competitive score of 171/7. Bangalore, however, chased down the target in 16.2 overs, courtesy of fine knocks from Virat Kohli (82* off 49) and Faf du Plessis (73 off 43). Reflecting on the eight-wicket defeat, Bond picked Siraj’s opening spell as the defining factor and stated:

“You look at those first three overs from Siraj. He didn’t give any width. He used his bouncer beautifully, probably should have had Rohit (Sharma) out. He gave us nothing to hit and forced us to take some shots and got wickets from it. When a guy goes for five runs... We got maybe 29 in the powerplay on a small ground. We were always behind the eight ball.

“We had a long batting order; we tried to up the ante and got to 170. So, I think we know that if we can get a decent start, we can score all sorts of runs with the power that we have. That opening spell was brilliant. He was too good for us today.”

Apart from Siraj, leg-spinner Karn Sharma was also impressive, claiming 2/32 in his four overs.

---

“170 on a very small ground, we left runs out on the park” - Shane Bond on MI’s batting effort

Elaborating on Mumbai’s batting effort, Bond opined that they simply did not put up enough runs on the board. According to him, MI should have scored a minimum of 190, considering the size and nature of the surface. He commented:

“170 on a very small ground, we left runs out on the park. Tilak Varma played brilliantly, couldn’t get much to go around him. 170 we knew we had a chance, but we were definitely runs light on a small ground on a good wicket.”

Mumbai Indians will next take on Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, April 8.