‘playoffs begun for us’
Mumbai: Mumbai Indians notched up their first back-to-back wins this season with a eight-run victory over Rajasthan Royals but their batsman Ambati Rayudu conceded that his side will have to play each game as a must-win to make it to the play-off stage of the IPl cricket tournament. “Our play-off has already started, to be honest. We need to take each game as such and try to go that extra mile (in every game),” said Rayudu who scored an 53 while coming in at number five to help Mumbai beat Rajasthan by eight runs here on Friday. Rayudu featured in a partnership of 61 runs in just 30 balls with West Indian Kieron Pollard to pull Mumbai out of a mid-innings rut and post a winning score of 187. Mumbai had started the tournament with four losses on the trot before arresting the trend and Friday’s win was only their third in eight games and the second at the Wankhede Stadium this season.
‘my dismissal changed it’
Mumbai: Young Kerala batsman Sanju Samson said that the over in which he and Karun Nair were dismissed off successive deliveries bowled by Mitchell McClenaghan was the turning point of his side Rajasthan Royals’ eight-run defeat in the IPl cricket match against Mumbai Indians here. “The over in which I got out changed the game,” said wicketkeeper Samson, who powered his way to a brilliant 76 off 46 balls to take Rajasthan closer to victory before falling to McClenaghan in the 18th over. New Zealand pacer McClenaghan got rid of Nair for a first-ball duck and then Sri lankan sling-arm specialist lasith Malinga dismissed Deepak Hooda in the next over to arrest the Royals’ winning strides. “Today (Friday) it was my turn to go up and perform for the team. I am always ready to bat up the order or anywhere my team wants me to bat,” Samson said at the post-match press conference on Friday night about his promotion to number three ahead of teammate Steven Smith. Samson defended Australia’s man-in-form Smith, who scored 28 in 20 balls before falling to McClenaghan, and said their partnership worth 46 was a very important one in Royals’ run-chase. “He (Smith) cannot play well in every game. He tried his best it was not his day. He gave good support. If you have a fine batsman at the other end builds up your confidence. My partnership with him though small was important,” he said.
‘kotla wicket tough one’
New Delhi: Kings XI Punjab batsman David Miller said it was “pretty tough” to bat on the Ferozeshah Kotla wicket as his side slumped to a nine-wicket defeat against the Delhi Daredevils here. Miller top-scored with 42 but his side only managed 118/8 in 20 overs, which the Daredevils eased past in 13.5 overs on Friday. “It was pretty tough. The wicket was a little bit up and down so it wasn’t easy. A lot of balls were keeping low and some were carrying and had a good bounce in it; so it wasn’t easy,” the South African was quoted as saying by iplt20.com. “We didn’t do well in the first six overs. I don’t think the dismissals were reckless shots at all. It was just one of those things; we just managed to get ourselves in trouble. The way it’s going at the moment, nothing quite went our way. It wasn’t too easy to bat out there but they made it look very easy.” Miller added that it was not easy to cope with the pressure but was hopeful of a turnaround in Kings XI’s fortunes, who lie eighth and last in the IPl standings. “In the last 6-7 games we haven’t batted well in the first six overs. So the middle-order has been under pressure to get the team to a decent total.”