Shreyas Iyer took his time in middle and we knew that was a danger: Mahela Jayawardene

Mumbai Indians knew Shreyas Iyer giving himself time in the middle to bat long was a sign of “danger”, said head coach Mahela Jayawardene after his side failed to execute in the knockout clash against Punjab Kings.

Iyer struck as many as eight sixes and five fours to make 87 not out from only 41 balls to power Punjab Kings into the IPL final for the first time in 11 years.

“He took his time. He knew they would a bit under pressure, so he was taking his time. We knew that was a danger,” Jayawardene told the media after the after wicket loss on Sunday night.

“As long as we didn’t give him that partnership with Nehal (Wadhera), we would have been able to squeeze through because he would have had to go (out to attack) early, not wait that long.”

“He got Nehal to do the bulk of the work at that point, so that shows the experience, and he knew he had to take the game deep and he did. We were trying those options with the wickets, but it just didn’t work for us today,” Jayawardene added.

A former Mumbai Indians player, Wadhera (48 off 29 balls) consolidated for Punjab Kings with a robust 84-run stand for the fourth wicket to turn the tables with Iyer at the helm, while also making the most of two lifelines he got in form of dropped catches.

Jayawardene said MI had a good campaign after a poor start to this season. “It was a good campaign for us, the way we started, and how we regrouped as a team and had played some really, really good cricket,” he said.

“We had our opportunities getting to the playoffs and we had a really good game first up (Eliminator) and even today I thought we played some good cricket, except for Kings playing better cricket than us, especially with the bat.”

Jayawardene heaped praise on their batting mainstay Suryakumar Yadav who showed remarkable consistency throughout the tournament to finish with 717 runs. His tally marked the first time any MI batter scored 700 of more runs in an IPL season.

“Sky has been brilliant, very consistent,” PTI said.

Also Read: After a roaring start, Delhi Capitals finish with a whimper

“Reading the game, especially in those situations. He was very, very good in many different conditions as well, that’s where quality of the player stands out.”

“For him to be that consistent in playing in different surfaces, different bowling attacks, shows what a quality T20 batsman he is, especially a lot of the times it took the spinners down pretty well and that role was pretty crucial for us,” he added.

The head coach’s assessed that MI did not get as many runs as they could probably have got which was also among the reasons for their defeat.

“We probably left a bit of runs on the park as well with the bat. We lost our way after having that start. It was (losing) back to back wickets probably (which) slowed us down a little bit,” he said.

“But I thought 200 was still a good score in a qualifier… the pressure. We picked up those wickets as well up front and a few mistakes cost us the game and the bowling also, the execution wasn’t up to the standards as well,” he added.