MI under a lot of pressure: Zaheer

MI’s Kieron Pollard is clean bowled by RCB’s Harshal Patel. Pic/BCCI; IPL

Defending champions Mumbai Indians' (MI) middle-order batsmen continued their poor run, resulting in a 54-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Dubai on Sunday. Put in to bat, RCB skipper Virat Kohli (42-ball 51, 3x4, 3x6) and No. 4 batsman Glenn Maxwell (56 off 37 balls, 6x4, 3x6) outclassed the MI bowlers, posting 165-6 off their 20 overs.

In reply, MI's opening pair of Rohit Sharma (28-ball 43) and Quinton de Kock (24 off 23 balls) started well, but the middle-order, comprising Ishan Kishan (9), Suryakumar Yadav (8), Krunal Pandya (5), Kieron Pollard (7) and Hardik Pandya (3) succumbed to the pressure and MI were bundled out for just 111 in 18.1 overs. Pacer Harshal Patel (4-17), who enjoyed his maiden hat-trick and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3-11) were the wicket-takers for RCB.

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Former India pacer and MI's Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan admitted that the failure of their middle-order has put the defending champs under immense pressure. "I think the wicket was just fine, you can make out from how the team batting first went and how we started. It's just a form-based situation for us. The middle-order hasn't really fired for us in these last three games and that has put a lot of pressure," Zaheer said during the post-match virtual press conference.

Zaheer Khan

Even as MI's star-studded middle-order struggled, RCB's Maxwell was hitting sixes and fours at ease, employing the reverse sweep too, a shot that he has surprisingly not even practised in the nets, revealed Patel. "I have not seen him [Maxwell] play those shots in training. He is one of the most gifted batsmen I have seen in the current scenario. He can do that [reverse sweep] out of the blue and right into the game," Patel said in reply to mid-day's question on Maxwell's ability.

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Batters letting us down consistently: Rohit

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma seems to be losing patience with the way his batters are letting the team down in this edition. "The batters let us down and that's been something that's been happening consistently. I have had a good chat with the batters and we have to make sure we carry on."

Eight
No. of wickets Mumbai Indians lost for just 30 runs v RCB

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