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After a crushing loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya said not forming partnerships during the game cost Mumbai the match and hopes to return to winning ways in the remainder of the season.
Riding on the 83-run stand between Venkatesh Iyer-Manish Pandey, followed by Mitchell Starc's pure pace magic, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered a 24-run victory against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Pandya said his team failed to form any needed partnerships, and there are a lot of questions that will take time to answer, but he has not much to say at the moment. "I mean obviously in the batting inning, we couldn't form partnerships and kept losing wickets, in T20s if you don't form partnerships, it will cost you. Not much, there are a lot of questions that will take some time to answer but for now, not much to say," Pandya said in a post-match presentation. The MI captain reckoned that the bowlers did a fine job to restrict Kolkata under 170, and the wicket actually got a bit better with the dew. Pandya hoped that his side would get better in their next matches, mentioning that they needed to keep fighting, and he kept telling himself that good days and bad days are part of the game. Mumbai faced a surprising collapse, with the top order again failing to score. With his 56, Suryakumar Yadav was able to revive the team, but following his collapse, everything simply went south, and Mumbai ultimately suffered a crushing loss. "As you mentioned, the bowlers did a fantastic job, the wicket got a little better after the first innings, the dew came on. We will go through the game and see what could we have done better. You keep fighting, that is what I tell to myself, never leave the battlefield, tough days come but good also come here, it's challenging but challenges make you better," the MI captain added. Coming to the match, put to bat first, a solid partnership stand of 83 runs between Venkatesh Iyer (70 off 52) and Manish Pandey (42 off 31) guided KKR to 169. For MI, Jasprit Bumrah returned with a double-wicket over before returning with a spell of 3 for 18 in 3.5 overs. In reply, MI were bundled out for 145. Starc made a terrific comeback in the tournament returning with a figure of 4-33 in just 3.5 spells, handing KKR a 24-run victory. Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine both finished with identical figures of 2/22, including some big wickets in the first half of the chase which put KKR on top in the match. MI will next take on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday. (ANI)
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