"SKY is at a different level": MI's Jason Behrendorff after win over RCB

Mumbai chased down their third 200-run chase in the 2023 season, this time in just 16.3 overs. Following the win, MI pacer Jason Behrendroff applauded his teammate Suryakumar Yadav by stating that he is at a different level and is in amazing form.

Jason also appreciated Tim David and Nehal Wadera's efforts to help the team win crucial matches.

Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav played a knock which will stay in the memory of fans. MI registered a crucial victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets to move to the third spot with 12 points.

"It is a credit to our batting group. We have got a really long batting line-up. We've got SKY, who is at a different, different level. He's been batting amazingly. We have seen what Timmy (Tim) David can do at the back end. And then Nehal (Wadhera), who has come in in the last few games in particular and has really taken the game on. So, we've got some great options, which is really important," Jason Behrendroff said.

This season Suryakumar has picked up big time after struggling in initial matches.

In 11 matches so far, he has scored 376 runs at an average of 34.18 and a strike rate of 186.18. He has registered four fifties in the tournament so far, with the best score of 83. He is currently the eighth-highest run-scorer in the season.

Behrendorff took two early wickets of Virat Kohli and Anuj Rawat and then later returned to break a 100+ stand between Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis in the 13th over of the game. This allowed MI to arrest some momentum and keep RCB at 199/6 after 20 overs.

Jason said they needed to break Faf-Maxwell partnership. "I think the partnership was about 100 or 50 balls at one stage. So, we really needed, to break that partnership. We had a few different plans, a few things nearly worked and then yeah, we were able to sort of crack through it at the back end, which gave us a really good opportunity to dry them up towards the end of the innings."

"If we can take wickets at regular intervals and it stems the flow of the batters and gain like we were able to take consistent wickets throughout the innings, which helped after that big partnership," the pacer added.

Behrendorff said that the competition in the points table is "tight" this year, which makes the win important.

"The competition's so tight (this year). This was a vital win for us, that's for sure. So hopefully we just need to keep this momentum rolling. We have got three big games coming up," he said.

In the chase of 200, Ishan Kishan's power-hitting put MI to a good start but the hosts were reduced to 52/2 in five overs after Kishan (42 in 21 balls, four fours and four sixes) and skipper Rohit Sharma (7) were dismissed by Wanindu Hasanranga.

MI chased down the total with 21 balls and six wickets in hand. (ANI)