Mumbai Indians faced a defeat in their home IPL 2023 contest against the Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. While PBKS elected to bowl first and posted 214/8 in their 20 overs, MI were on course to chase that down successfully before falling 13 runs short.
After the game, MI's head coach Mark Boucher shared his assessment of the game. He highlighted one key area where he thinks the team let the game slip away.
"I thought the game was in the balance. Surya's was a big wicket, a couple of centimetres higher or lower and it would probably have gone for a boundary. He held his nerve at the end, so well done to him. We batted well but they (PBKS) did get too many runs, which is disappointing because we controlled half per cent of the game. We let it slip towards the end of our bowling (innings)," Boucher told the media after PBKS' win.
"It was nice for Surya to get some runs. The way he does, it always looks spectacular. Form is a funny thing, sometimes you judge it by the numbers. He has been hitting the ball really well in the nets. It was just a matter of time before it translated into runs," he said.
"We were in control until the 15th over and then they got 96 runs in the last five (overs). That is some hitting. We got it wrong, and it is frustrating because we dominated and when we did lose, we lost it incredibly big. We can put a finger on why we lost," he further said.
Boucher backed speedster Arjun Tendulkar who had impressed in the first two games and even bowled two good overs, also picking up a wicket on Saturday before conceding 31 runs in his third over to finish with figures of 0/48 from 3 overs.