BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium: After losing their sixth match of the IPL 2024 season through a ten-run defeat to Delhi Capitals, five-time champions Mumbai Indians need to win their remaining matches if they are to secure a place in the playoffs. Big-hitting batter Tim David, admitted the favourable results need to come for his side after trying hard to improve each time.
“When you are not winning a lot of games, there comes execution issues. Every player in the squad wants to have a bigger contribution, especially in victories. That’s a source of disappointment and frustration for everyone in our team. We all want to challenge ourselves and perform better
“There wasn’t any extra pressure, but we’re certainly disappointed in ourselves for not sitting in earlier (making a solid start to the run chase). We will reflect on what we did here — it’s a process we follow after each game. We’re trying to improve each time, but now the results must come,” said David in post-match press conference.
For MI, Tilak Varma’s 63, Hardik Pandya’s 46 and David’s 37 gave them hope of chasing down the daunting target of 258, but eventually fell short by 10 runs. What also didn’t help MI was 65/3 at the end of power-play, making it the third time they lose three wickets in this six-over phase of IPL 2024.
“It (the target) has to be chasable, especially when you’ve won three out of eight games this season. You need to work out the best way for us to get this total. The boundary size was small, but the pitch wasn’t fast.
“The ball had to be changed halfway through because it was getting chewed up. At that stage of the season, you can’t just think whether a score is chasable. It’s not an option,” added David.
Asked if he and Tilak had set targets in mind while sharing a valiant 70-run stand for the sixth wicket, David replied, “With a target score around 260, it’s about trying to get as many runs as you can. Putting a number on set phases is tricky because someone can bowl a tight over or have a big over. Especially when chasing, you’ve got to be able to problem-solve everything out in the field.
“You can’t just be picking about a given target and say, let’s get to this. You’ve got to take every opportunity you can to score. So yeah, from our side, there were no set targets about what we were trying to get.”
Saturday’s match made it a hat-trick of run-fests at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2024, a season where soaring run-rates and hitting sixes aplenty has been the main highlight. David signed off by explaining how teams can use an extra batter via the Impact Player ruling to achieve a high batting total.
“You’re allowed to have 12 players to get one extra batter. This gives the players some freedom, and we certainly see some high powerplay scores. Batting in the other phases is still challenging, but you can throw some caution to the wind when you’ve got an extra batter there.
“You get pitches like a little swing or movement. When the ball’s harder, it comes off the bat better. Once you get to the back end, the ball gets softer and harder to hit. When two fielders are out, the ball doesn’t move, and you have an extra batter. It’s a license, and we’re seeing some amazing batting. Honestly, the skill level is high, and the guys are going out with much freedom.
“It’s great to watch, and I’m sure you guys are discussing it a lot, too. Every time I sit down here, I get asked this question about the impact player or what’s having that effect. There is a lot of freedom and confidence in players, and they’re putting some big scores on the board,” he concluded.
MI are still stuck at ninth place in the points table and will travel to Lucknow to face the KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium on Tuesday evening.
