Former Indian batsmen Virender Sehwag was left rather surprised as to how the five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians batted against Punjab Kings in match 17 on Friday in Chennai. Mumbai ultimately lost the game, as Punjab cruised to victory by nine wickets. Batting first Mumbai Indians scored 131/6 in their 20 overs. KL Rahul (60*) and Chris Gayle (43) added 79 together to take Punjab to their second win this season.
Meanwhile, this was Mumbai’s third loss in five games this season so far. At the end of 10 overs, the Rohit Sharma-led side was struggling at 49 for 2. This meant they needed a big finish but even that didn’t happen as the likes of Kieron Pollard, Hardik, and Krunal Pandya failed to get the big shots going and MI were restricted with 131 for 6.
Virender Sehwag said Suryakumar Yadav, who was the in-form cricketer, should have batted at his usual No.3 spot ahead of Ishan Kishan.
Also Read: Kevin Pietersen Says Chris Morris Isn’t Worth His Auction Price
Suryakumar Yadav Should Have Batted At 3: Virender Sehwag
“The kind of form Suryakumar was in, he hit a fifty earlier, perhaps he could have taken more advantage of the powerplay. See, even he could’ve gotten out early but he had better chances.
“It would have been better had they sent Suryakumar early in the powerplay. He could have given the necessary momentum to the innings,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
Like Virender Sehwag, former Indian cricket Ajay Jadeja also said that not sending Suryakumar Yadav at three was a mistake by Mumbai Indians.
“We were saying that MI are not playing well but they were scoring 150 at least but today they played well but got only 130. This was beyond me. You can play poorly, get out early but they came out today with their shutters closed, which is not their style of batting.”
Mumbai have slipped to the fourth position in the points table which is still topped by RCB with four wins from four games. KKR and RR take on each other in Mumbai tonight to get back to winning ways.
Also Read: IPL 2021, Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders- Match Preview
