IPL 2024: We didn’t finish well and that’s why we were 10-15 runs short – Hardik Pandya after loss against Rajasthan Royals

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya admitted they didn’t finish well and that’s why they were 10-15 runs short of a par score against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur on Monday. MI posted 179 runs on the board after Pandya decided to bat first.

The visitors got off to a horrid start, losing three early wickets of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav. Mohammad Nabi became Yuzvendra Chahal’s 200 IPL victim but then Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera added 99 runs for the fifth wicket.

Varma scored 65 runs off 45 balls, scoring his fifth IPL fifty whereas Wadhera scored a fine knock of 49 runs off 24 balls. However, the tourists could only manage 18 runs in the last three overs and failed to finish on the high as the likes of Hardik Pandya and Tim David were dismissed cheaply.

Meanwhile, Sandeep Sharma did a fantastic job for Rajasthan Royals after making a comeback to the final XI. Sharma returned with figures of 5-18 in his quota of four overs whereas Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a match-winning knock of 104 off 60 balls to help RR get over the line.

Hardik Pandya said after the loss, “We put ourselves in trouble early on. The way Tilak and Nehal batted – that was fantastic. I don’t think that when we lost a couple of wickets early we thought we would even reach 180. We didn’t finish well and that’s why we were 10-15 runs short. We had to keep it within the stumps (while bowling). 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.”

He added, “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. 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.”

Mumbai Indians will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Saturday.