Mumbai Indians lacked purpose and intent with ball: Anil Kumble
Mumbai Indians (MI) appeared to lack intent and purpose in their 27-run defeat to Rajasthan Royals (RR), said former India captain Anil Kumble as he lauded young swashbuckler Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for his “brilliant” offensive against pace ace Jasprit Bumrah in an IPL clash in Guwahati.
RR cruised to the comfortable win over Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians, powered by Yashasvi Jaiswal’s scintillating unbeaten 77 and Sooryavanshi’s 14-ball blitzkrieg of 39. Their performance set the tone for a 150-run total in the rain-shortened, 11-overs-a-side contest.
Mumbai Indians fell well short, restricted to 123 for 9, with their entire top order failing to make an impact. This was Rajasthan Royals’ third consecutive win, while MI endured their second loss in three matches.
“It felt like the Mumbai Indians lacked a bit of purpose and intent with the ball, and that certainly spilled over into the batting. It was always going to be a big task to score 151 in 11 overs,” said Kumble on ‘JioStar’.
Kumble was amazed by how Sooryavanshi confidently took on a bowler of Bumrah’s calibre, smashing a six off the very first delivery he faced.
“Sooryavanshi makes it look easy against one of the world’s best bowlers. First ball, he hits him (Bumrah) for a six and then sets him up. He set the bowler up, not the other way around.
“We’ve generally seen Bumrah set up batters so many times, but here, Sooryavanshi set Bumrah up to bowl that slower ball on the third delivery, and he was waiting for it to hit him for another six.
“It was brilliant batting by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, just the way he strikes the ball and the consistency he has shown in terms of strike-rate. He is striking at close to 300 in every game and scoring more than 30.
