Mumbai Apart from Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai Indians do not have much in their bowling attack and they need to improve in the game department, West Indian legend Brian Lara said after their 20-run loss to Chennai Super Kings in the IPL match here.
Bumrah had an ordinary day against CSK considering the high standards set for him and skipper Hardik Pandya hit three consecutive sixes off MS Dhoni as MI lost at home on Sunday night.
“Not much, when we look at Mumbai Indians, I think a lot of people have them as favourites, because they were batting well, they scored 230 runs, they chased 196 runs, made it look very easy, 15 overs, so we pick them as favourites. I think so,” Laura said on the Star Sports Cricket Live show.
“But their bowling is poor. Apart from Jasprit Bumrah, there is nobody to support them in that bowling attack, and the CSK batsmen took them apart.”
MI did not use their spinners after the eighth over with Shivam Dubey at the crease, who has been impressive against the slower bowlers.
“The spinners, they bowled only 4 overs after about 7 runs an over, but Shivam Dubey was unbelievable there. So, MI need to improve in that area, they need to find a couple of bowlers, match winning bowlers,” said the batting great.
“What tells me more about this game is that when you have a good bowling unit like CSK, you look at their bowling, every bowler, every bowler played a role in that game.
“At that point we had dot balls, we thought Mumbai Indians had to pick up the pace, they didn't.”
When Pandya hit three consecutive sixes in the last over, Lara said, “For me, it was tough for Hardik Pandya, he turned himself in the last two overs, master, you know, hit three sixes in the last ball. 4-5 balls.”
Sri Lanka's Mathish Pathira was the pick of the CSK bowlers who stopped MI at 186 for 6 in 20 overs, 21 short of the winning target, and former England captain Kevin Pietersen praised the “unconventional” right-arm pacer.
“Very unorthodox, and with unorthodox bowlers you sometimes have to watch your distance as they say, because you have to get used to his delivery and you have to get used to where the ball is coming from. Because it's normal and not normal, and it's abnormal.
“So, you've got to take your time … when he's bowling so beautifully with the old ball, and he's got an amazing ability to not reverse swing the ball, but he's got to reverse and dip the ball, and it's a pretty tough ball to face.”
Pietersen compared Pathirana with Sri Lankan great Lasith Malinga, who is currently the bowling coach.
“It was with Malinga too, it was reverse, but it wasn't reverse, it was reverse down, and it's always going away from the angle you're trying to hit the ball,” he said.
“When you get a bowler coming in at an angle, but it's not coming in at a natural angle, it's coming in at an angle that really starts to sink in on you, then you can't really play the sweep, you can't play the ramp, because it's going to fall under your bat, and it's for CSK. A gem, what a bowler.
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