“The most frustrating thing is not sticking to plans” - Shane Bond lashes out at MI bowlers 

Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling coach Shane Bond hit out at the team’s bowling unit for failing to stick to the plans against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Tuesday, May 16. Referring specifically to the way they bowled to Marcus Stoinis, Bond opined that MI’s bowlers dished out balls for him to hit straight down the ground.

MI went down to LSG by five runs in match number 63 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 in Lucknow, severely denting their playoff qualification hopes. Bowling first, Mumbai conceded 177/3 and were then held to 172/5.

Mumbai’s bowlers began well, reducing Lucknow to 35/3. However, Stoinis hammered 89* off 47 to lift LSG to a good total. In a post-match press conference, Bond expressed disappointment at Mumbai’s bowling performance.

He commented:

"For me, the most frustrating thing is about not sticking to the plans that we talk about. We were very clear with what we wanted to do on this wicket to players like Marcus and where we wanted to bowl, we didn't bowl there consistently enough.

"When you're looking at a team plan, you've got to get the batsmen to hit in areas where you want them to hit. Make it as hard as possible for them. You don't want them to hit you in areas that they want to hit.

“We saw that with Stoinis - a fine player. We knew he was trying to hit straight down the ground and we dished out balls for him to do it. In the end, his innings was the difference between the two teams.”

The former Kiwi fast bowler also lamented the fact that MI are making the same mistakes over and over again. Bond opined:

"We've always prided ourselves in our preparation, the work that we do behind the scenes and how we review the game - the mistakes on which we want to improve. The frustrating thing is that we're making the same mistake over and over again. From my point of view, it's disappointing.

“For 15 overs, we were excellent, we delivered what we wanted to. One player put us under pressure. That's what Rashid Khan did the other night and we made the same mistakes. It didn't cost us in the last game, it definitely cost us tonight."

In the match against Gujarat Titans (GT), Mumbai had reduced the opposition to 103/8, defending a total of 218. However, Rashid hammered 79* off 32 as GT finished on 191/8.

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“No way we should have gone for 54 runs in the last three overs” - Bond

Analyzing MI’s bowling performance in detail, Bond stated that while good batters will score runs, cutting down on scoring opportunities is what can make a big difference.

He elaborated:

"You can never stop good players from scoring runs. You'd rather have players scoring 89 from 47 be at 70 from 47. Those 17 to 20 runs can make a difference. We've talked about that at Wankhede over the course of the year. You are talking about a difference of 10-15 runs.

“There’s no way we should have gone for 54 runs in the last three overs on that ground. It was just poor.”

LSG were 123/3 after 17 overs. However, Chris Jordan went for 24 runs in the 18th as Mumbai lost the momentum.