Jayawardene explains why he promoted SKY, stating, “I knew CSK would…”

The Mumbai Indians defeated the Chennai Super Kings by a margin of nine wickets, retaliating for the defeat in the rematch. It was as one-sided a match as it could be. Two great batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, easily defeated the 176-run chase as the CSK hitters failed to take advantage of the situation early on.

Following Ryan Rickelton’s dismissal by Ravindra Jadeja, Mumbai strategically moved Suryakumar, who is regarded as one of the finest batsmen against spin bowling, to the No. 3 spot. After that, it was all one way as Rohit and SKY punished the CSK spinners for their lack of flexibility.

It was excellent up front. Rohit dominated the powerplay. Rickelton started off well and then left. We decided to send SKY because we knew they would bowl a lot of spin,” head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated at the news conference following the game.

And it was fantastic that RO most likely took the back seat when SKY got into that groove. Our goal was for that cooperation to develop and reach that point. Experience does that, then. He remarked, “These two guys get along pretty well and handled that situation really well.”

In the CSK match, Rohit finally made an impression with a 45-ball 76 after a string of poor performances.

When Rohit knocked, Jayawardene was ecstatic and commended the former captain for the kind of impact he has had on the team.

For a guy with that kind of expertise, I believe you should just leave them alone and engage in such constructive discussions. When Polly and I spoke with him, he seemed to be fine with everything.

He was aware of his obligations. He passed the first three to four overs after improving his timing. His shots were certainly a little off-target, but that’s just the nature of the game. He will alter the game and the momentum once he recovers from it.

Despite his failures, the intention was there from the beginning. He was making an effort to play for the team, which was beneficial to us. He knows himself and has been playing this tempo for some time,” MJ said.