It was yet another crushing defeat for the five-time champions Mumbai Indians at the hands of their arch-rivals, Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium. The hosts suffered their fourth defeat and their second loss at home in the 2024 season. MI’s bowling attack has come under scrutiny and the West Indies legend, Brian Lara reckons that the side needs more match-winners along with Jasprit Bumrah to improve their chances of going far in the tournament.
Speaking to Star Sports Cricket Live, the legendary batter reflected on the game and thinks that the side could not have done much more with the batting aspect but it is the side’s bowling that needs to be worked on. He commented,” Not much, I think when we look at Mumbai Indians, a lot of people have them as favourites, simply because they were batting so well, they came and they scored 230 runs, they chased on 196, made it look very easy, 15 overs, so on that fact I think, we pick them as favourites for this game, but their bowling is poor”.
While Bumrah has been consistent with his bowling despite being used at various stages of the innings, Lara believes that the franchise needs more bowlers to support the Indian pacer. He added,” Beyond Jasprit Bumrah, there was no one to support them in that bowling attack, and the CSK batters took them apart. The spinners, only bowled 4 overs after around 7 runs an over, but they weren’t trusted with Shivam Dube out there, so MI will have to improve in that area”.
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Lara praised CSK’s bowling unit who were clinical despite their highest-wicket taker in the season, Mustafizur Rahman being expensive having conceded 55 runs in his four overs and the lone wicket. The side was able to build up pressure by being economical at the death and Matheesha Pathirana delivered with wickets. The Sri Lankan international put up a fine performance as he picked up four wickets for 28 runs to push the side to victory.
The former West Indies batter credited CSK’s bowlers in comparison to MI’s by saying,” Every single bowler played a part in that game, every single bowler. We had dot balls at the time, we thought that Mumbai Indians were supposed to accelerate, but they didn’t”.
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The 54-year-old also suggested that Pandya might not have had it easy with the skipper drawing massive criticism following his last over where he conceded three sixes in the last four deliveries by CSK’s designated finisher, MS Dhoni.
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“So for me, Hardik Pandya had it tough, I think he turned himself in the last couple of overs, the master did, you know, three sixes in the last 4-5 balls, but they’ve got to find a couple of bowlers, match-winning bowlers,” Lara concluded.
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