Mumbai: After facing their third consecutive loss in the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya urged his side to show a bit more "discipline" and "courage" to turn things around.
The five-time champion Mumbai Indians lost their first home match at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday against Rajasthan Royals by six wickets. Asked to bat, the Hardik Pandya-led side was restricted to 125 for 9 as the Rajasthan Royals bowlers put up some lethal pace bowling at the start which left MI tottering at 20 for 4 in the fourth over itself.
"We didn't start the way we wanted to, tough night tonight," I don't think much surprises me anymore. But as a group, we believe we can pull off a lot of better things going forward and we just need to be more disciplined and show more courage," Hardik Pandya said post-match.
Seeing wickets falling in quick succession, Hardik showed some resilience as he hit 34 runs in 21 balls before he was sent back by RR spin wizard Yuzvendra Chahal. "I think we were in a decent position to give us a chance to get to 150 or 160 but I think my wicket changed the game and brought them more in the game and I think I could have done better," Hardik said.
Rajasthan Royals won their third match on the trot in the cash-rich league and are comfortably sitting at the top of the points table. Riyan Parag, yet again impressed with his batting, as the 22-year-old batter from Assam scored an unbeaten 54 off just 39 balls, anchoring the chase.
"Actually, I've simplified everything instead of trying to do a lot of things. Earlier when I wasn't getting runs I would try a lot of different things. This year, it's just seeing the ball and hitting the ball," Parag said.
