The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side lost their third game on the trot, and are stuck on four points in the league.
There’s too many teams in the middle of that points table with four points in their kitty. The recent fixture between Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) has just added to the stampede in the points table. However, MI lost their third game on the trot and Harmanpreet Kaur addressed a few of their concerns.
The Mumbai Indians skipper spoke about the contributions of their top-order batters in the matches till now, and expressed that they need to take more responsibility. Batters like Hayley Matthews can change the course of the game if they get going, but haven’t found their mojo yet.
In five matches so far, the two-time WPL champions have not been able to manufacture attacking starts, and have lost either of their openers cheaply. Their opening partnerships in the five games so far have been 21, 2, 20, 23 and 21 – which has hurt their momentum.
“We were 20-30 runs short. We couldn’t execute with the bat and it has been bothering us throughout the tournament. We need to push more in the powerplay. Before the tournament, we were struggling with injuries [in the squad]. It’s not an excuse, but whoever is batting in the opening spot has to take responsibility,” said Harmanpreet Kaur at the toss.
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Despite losing three games on the trot, the two-time WPL champions are sitting second on the points table, credits to their run-rate. Apart from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), every team is on four points and the race for elimination will only get tougher from here.
The Mumbai Indians can most certainly qualify for the playoffs from here, provided they win both of their remaining matches. They are scheduled to take on RCB and the Gujarat Giants (GG) in their next fixtures, and will have to win both the games to have their best shot at qualification.
One disadvantage which MI have to deal with is that they have played a game extra than each of the other three teams which are fighting for a playoffs berth. And hence, they would have to be dependent on the success or failure of other teams to qualify for the playoffs.
The top-order needs to take more responsibility and provide better starts. To add to that, the chopping and changing in the side needs to take a back seat. The MI Management do not seem to know their best XI, which has come back to haunt the side.
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