Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard is still hopeful that the five-time champions will make a comeback in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). MI failed to defend 243 runs on Wednesday at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai against Sunrisers Hyderabad, losing their sixth match of the season in eight outings. They are languishing in ninth place in the points table and are now in a must-win territory to make it to the playoffs.
However, Pollard feels that the team is quite capable of storming back into the contest and that they haven’t given up yet. “When I said defeat, I didnโt want the headlines to be that Mumbai Indians have been defeated, because mathematically and from a points perspective, we are still very much in the tournament.
“Yes, we have accepted losses because we lost the last couple of games, but we have not accepted defeat because we are not out of the tournament. We are still looking to go back and see what we can do and how far we can go in this tournament,” Pollard said in the post-match press conference.
We haven’t been good enough collectively, says Pollard
Mumbai Indians tried their fifth opening combination on Wednesday with Will Jacks opening the innings with Ryan Rickelton and the move worked. The overseas duo got the team off to a flier, laying the foundation to post 243 runs. But even that score wasn’t enough as the star bowling attack unravelled under pressure.ย
Pollard pointed out the same stating that the team hasn’t been good enough in all three departments together this season. “We havenโt been able to string a complete game of cricket together as a team.ย It has not been as consistent as we would have hoped. The results are showing. It is something you canโt shy away fromโฆcollectively we havenโt been good enough.
“We just need to be collectively better as a unit. That is as much as you can ask. You can ask them to execute better in different areas of the game. But we need to play that complete game of cricket to win a match. It is getting difficult with the way cricket is doing, but what I can safely say, in the dressing room, the guys are wanting to fight,” Pollard added.
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