'Every Game Playoff Contest Now': MI Head Coach Mahela Jayawardene After Loss vs GT

Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mahela Jayawardene said his side erred in execution and lost the game despite being in control against Gujarat Titans in the IPL, adding that the five-time champions will treat every remaining match as a “playoff” from hereon. Gujarat Titans notched up their fourth consecutive win over Mumbai Indians with a narrow three-wicket victory in a rain-marred game. After MI were restricted to 155 for eight, GT had slipped to 126 for six but a second rain interruption saw the target being revised to 15 needed off the final over.

GT got over the line on the final ball to go to the top of the points table, while MI will now need to win both their remaining matches to qualify for the playoffs.

“I think it sums it up. It is margins, but I probably, both teams made quite a few mistakes out there in the middle and we probably made more than them,” Jayawardene told the media after the match.

“We were in a situation when we were (having) five games, four losses (and) one win. From that point onwards, we were (in a) must-win (situation in) pretty much every game. We had a really good run. The tournament’s tough and one good thing is we’re playing teams which is in that bunch, so we probably control our own destiny.

“We were probably 30 runs short on that wicket and the guys bowled really well, created a lot of opportunities, fielded really well (and) fought for everything so that’s good signs and we’ll treat every game as a playoff game for us now,” he added.

In the final over, Deepak Chahar conceded a four and a six and also bowled a no-ball as GT romped home.

However, Jayawardene said MI lost control of the game when they were still on top and that was the reason for their defeat and not Chahar’s ordinary final over.

“I could have bowled (Will Jacks) Jacksy, Karn Sharma, or whoever (was) left (with) overs, but I think Deepak did that job for us in the first few games as well. He was good, main bowler. (It) could have gone (our way),” he said.

“It’s easy for you to ask me that question and for me to say, yeah, maybe Hardik. (But he had) gone for three sixes, (then) you would have asked me why didn’t you bowl Deepa so I don’t like to go to that.” “It wasn’t the decision, it was the execution and that’s not where we lost the game. My thinking is (that) we lost the game when we had control of it and that was disappointing,” he added.

GT’s assistant coach Parthiv Patel, meanwhile, defended his middle and lower-order batters after they struggled to chase a moderate total on a batting-friendly surface, particularly when their top three — B Sai Sudharsan (5), Jos Buttler (30) and Shubman Gill (43) — failed to convert their starts.

“They hardly got a chance to bat. Today was the only day where none of the top three got a fifty. Otherwise, till today, everyone had got those runs. It’s just a one-odd game. But having said that, we obviously should have taken some of the right decisions,” he said.

“We still want to improve. We still want to get better once the business end of the tournament starts,” Patel added. 

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