Mohali: Mumbai Indians' middle-order batter Nehal Wadhera was delighted that the hard work they put in as a squad was reflected in the results as MI defeated Punjab Kings by 6 wickets. Mumbai Indians made it two wins in a row as they beat Punjab Kings in Match 46 of IPL 2023 at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Wednesday.
MI put on a chasing masterclass as Ishan Kishan (75 off 41) and Impact Player Suryakumar Yadav's (66 off 31) blistering knocks helped the away side chase down 215 after Liam Livingstone (82* off 42) and Jitesh Sharma's (49* off 27) aggressive knocks had powered PBKS to 214/3 in the first innings.
"We are playing practice matches among ourselves by making two teams from the squad. Both the teams are posting 200+ consistently so a lot of confidence for these kinds of run chases is coming from those practice matches," he said. Chasing down 200+ plus scores against quality top bowling side like PBKS showed the quality of our batting line-up. But Wadhera opined that it was the Impact Player rule that added depth to the batting lineup and threw his weight behind bowlers.
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"We have great faith in our bowlers. All teams are scoring huge scores this season so it is not that the bowlers are doing something wrong. The Impact Player rule also gives the batters a bit of freedom to play fearlessly as they know they have an extra batter in their wings. The rule has also led to more close finishes in the IPL which we love to watch," he added.
So SKY's mind-boggling shots and his ability to find new areas to score almost seems like a joke. But Nehal knows (and now sees!) the effort that goes into honing them.
"No doubt, he (Suryakumar Yadav) is a 360-degree player. He practices his shot a lot of times in the net and that's why those shots seem like they come naturally to him. He is one of the finest T20 batters in the world. He doesn't shy away from giving us good tips on how to pull off those extravagant shots. We learn a lot from him," Nehal added. (ANI)
