MI Head Coach Defends Retiring Tilak Varma In Final Over, Says Decision Was ‘Tactical’

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene said it wasn’t nice to retire impact player Tilak Varma, but described the move as a "tactical" one due to southpaw's inability to connect big hits during their chase against Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL game here. "These things happen in cricket. And (it was) not nice to take him out but I had to do that, it was a tactical decision at that point," Jayawardene said at the post-match press conference.

Tilak, who has two T20I hundreds for India and is one of the pillars of the core MI set-up, had managed just 25 off 23 balls with two boundaries when Mitchell Santner with a career IPL strike-rate of 106 was sent in.

Needing 24 runs off the last seven balls in pursuit of a challenging 204, MI opted to retire Tilak, but the strategy didn't work as they managed only 191 for five in their 20 overs, losing the game by 12 runs.

"I think Tilak batted well for us when we lost that wicket and that partnership with Surya and he just wanted to get going but he just couldn't then," Jayawardene said.

"I waited till the last few overs hoping that because he (Tilak) spent some time there so he should have been able to get that hit out of the way but I just felt that at the end that I needed someone fresh to go as he was struggling," he added.

Captain Hardik Pandya (28 off 16 balls) smashed a six off the first ball from Avesh Khan in the final over, but the bowler restricted MI to just three runs off the remaining five deliveries, with Mitchell Santner facing just two balls.

A disappointed Jayawardene reflected that they needed to be more "ruthless" in match situations to cross the line.

"I think halfway point, even at the 14th over mark, we were in it, 12 balls, 14 balls out, we were par score with them...we had the game in control most of the time even after losing those two early wickets but it was just disappointing that we just couldn't finish it," he said.

"I think it's early season so we need to be a bit more ruthless when we're in those kind of situations to try and finish a game off."

Langer Lauds Shardul's 19th Over

LSG head coach Justin Langer lauded his bowlers for their efforts in stifling MI's batters and derailing their chase at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Avesh Khan, Shardul Thakur, and Ravi Bishnoi excelled in the death overs to halt MI’s progress, with the visitors at 143 for 3 at one stage, with Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak at the crease.

“I thought Shardul Thakur’s second-last over [in which he conceded just seven runs] was outstanding. That really kept us [in the game]. And then obviously Avesh Khan, that’s one of the things that he prides himself on – bowling those tight overs," Langer said.

"Digvesh [Rathi] bowled very well. I thought [Ravi] Bishnoi started to come back into his own, which is really important for us in the tournament.

"And the other thing is we had the experience in game one against DC, where we were on top of the game for a lot of it and gave it up. So, hopefully, that tough experience in the first game helped our guys stay calm in this game against a very good Mumbai team.” LSG's bowling attack appeared brittle, with multiple injuries to their top pacers posing a concern ahead of the IPL. Avesh Khan had missed the opening game, while Akash Deep played his first game of the season against MI on Friday. Mayank Yadav, another key pacer, too remains sidelined as he has developed a toe injury after recovering from his long-standing back issue.

Langer Gives An Update On Mayank Yadav

The head coach said that Mayank is working very hard at the Centre of Excellence to get back into action.

“He’s working very hard at the NCA and I saw some video of him bowling yesterday and he was bowling at about 90 to 95% [intensity]. So, Mayank’s up and running, which is really great for Indian cricket and the IPL," Langer said.

"We saw the impact he had last year. I don’t think there’s been a bowler in India who’s bowled faster than him. The NCA, to their credit, have obviously done a very good job because they’ve got Avesh Khan back for us. They’ve got Akash Deep back for us....”

"My Job Is To Let Rishabh Keep Smiling"

Pant, who became IPL's most expensive player with a whopping Rs 27 crore price tag, has struggled with scores of 0, 15, 2, and 2 so far.

Asked if his poor form was a concern, Langer responded: "He'll be fine. Don’t worry about Rishi. I’ve got one job, and that’s just to keep him smiling." "Because when you come into a new franchise, often you try so hard and you're the – you know, there's a lot of expectation. He's the captain of the team. There's high expectation and with that often comes pressure that none of us understand.

"No one understands that. One and a half billion – there might be, I don't know, a dozen people in one and a half billion people in this country at the moment who understand that pressure. So we just – we'll stay with him.

"We'll keep him smiling, keep him relaxed. And when he comes good, my gosh, we've won 50 per cent of our games so far and Rishi hasn't made many runs yet. Imagine when he does start making runs."

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)

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