‘Mumbai Indians didn’t look in the race’- Sanjay Manjrekar on MI’s effort vs GT

The Mumbai Indians’ (MI) performance against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on Saturday, March 29, has drawn a lot of criticism. Sanjay Manjrekar, a former cricket player and broadcaster, offered his thoughts on their chase’s failures and how the home team outbatted them.

MI was unable to chase down the GT batsmen’s impressive 196-run total because of their terrible batting effort. Manjrekar brought up the parallels between the two teams’ powerplay scores, claiming that the Mumbai team did not appear to be in the running after the second wicket went. Manjrekar also thought that the MI bowlers may have given up an additional 15 to 20 runs during the first innings.

When the Mumbai Indians lost two wickets for 35, they didn’t appear like they were in the race. The Gujarat Titans, in contrast, scored about 129 runs for their opening two wickets. Following that, it appeared as though Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav were attempting to form a collaboration. Manjrekar said on JioHotstar, “The problem with forming a partnership in a chase of over 190 is that the required run rate starts to suffer, and that’s exactly what happened.”

“You have to admit that the Gujarat Titans batted well in the end; I estimated that they were about 15 to 20 runs over par. The fact that the dew never arrived made Mumbai’s task considerably more challenging. Nevertheless, two losses are very common for the Mumbai Indians in spite of everything.

They still appear to be headed in the right direction to win the championship, Sanjay Manjrekar continued.

Manjrekar continued by analysing the MI batters and determining potential factors influencing their performance. The former opener stated that it will take time for players like Ryan Rickelton to adjust to the surfaces and that most batters prefer a little bounce and pace in the wicket. Rohit, who hasn’t played well in the first two games, was also the target of some criticism.

It’s obvious that Rohit Sharma is going through a stage. He has changed since, say, three or four years ago. At this point in his career, he needs to push himself every morning, exercise hard, and perform at his peak since he is losing ground. He continues to rely on his intuition and innate talent. Due to his South African heritage, Ryan Rickelton will require some time to become used to Indian pitches. We’ll have to give him time because, except from AB de Villiers and Heinrich Klaasen, very few South African hitters have really thrived on Indian pitches, Manjrekar stated.

In addition, Robin Minz, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and a few other players make up the batting lineup. It still seems a little implausible to me, though. Furthermore, many of them depend on pitches where the ball hits the bat nicely. There is bounce and pace, and even in the chase where they needed 12 or 13 runs, they probably would have been very near to the goal if it had taken place at Wankhede Stadium, Manjrekar said.