After four consecutive losses at the start, Mumbai Indians turned things around to reach the final on Tuesday when they beat Chennai Super Kings by 25 runs at the Wankhede Stadium.
led by batting masterclass of lendl Simmons (65 runs) and a fiery knock of 41 in 17 balls by Kieron Pollard, MI set a difficult target of 188 which proved to be too difficult in the end for the MS Dhoni led side.
Commenting on this massive turnaround, Pollard said that IPl is a franchise based style and for some it takes time to click while some click instantly. “I don’t think anything was lacking. This is franchise cricket. It is a group of guys coming together two or three days before a tournament,” Pollard said.
“Sometimes the team that adapts quickly builds momentum. We’re not playing together as a team (for the rest of the year). New players come in every year. You have to give it time sometimes. Some teams click faster than others. Chennai have a settled unit and so they are always consistent. But at the end of the day we’re in the finals, that’s what is most important.” he added.
last year, too, Mumbai had a disastrous start where they lost the first five matches and made the play-offs. Pollard stated he would like the team to make better starts next time around but if this is how the team turns things around, he was happy with it.
“In the last two years, Mumbai have been unable to start well but we’ve been able to finish well. One thing we need to work on is trying to start the tournament with a higher number of wins. Having said that if every year we are in this position, and play like this and end up in the final, then we’ll take it every year.”
Harbhajan Singh played a crucial part in the win for MI. With Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis at the crease and looking comfortable, the off spinner turned things around by getting Raina and MS Dhoni off successive deliveries in the 11th over. “We wanted to start well, got a couple of wickets as well. Bhajji, of course, did not start well in the first couple of overs, but after that third over he changed the game for us. Getting those two wickets was absolutely masterly,” he said.