No extra pressure on Mumbai Indians – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SL-Malinga-c2540 – Cricket News Update
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 Indians’ spearhead pacer Lasith Malinga on Sunday said that being defending champions has not put extra pressure on his side, saying they are just taking one game at a time.
“Not much. We don’t think about what happened in the IPL or CLT20 2011,” said the slinger when asked if being the title holders has created some extra pressure on Mumbai Indians.
“We just think about one game at a time. We don’t have any pressure of being defending champions on our mind. We just want to play one game at a time,” he added further.
Malinga’s comments came after the IPL franchise was soundly beaten by the local outfit, Highveld http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lions-c808, with an eight-wicket margin, in their Champions League T20 opener, here at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, on Sunday, October 14, 2012.
Harbhajan led Mumbai outfit started last night’s match as the overwhelming favourites, but failed to impress in all the three departments of the game. After being put in to bat, the 2011 CLT20 champions could manage a middling 157 for six in their stipulated 20 overs, and then failed to find an answer for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Neil-McKenzie-c2094’s joint assault, which left the tourists bruised and battered.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/McKenzie-c75497 smashed 68 not out off 41 balls, while teenager de Kock took just 32 balls to score his fourth Twenty20 half century, as Lions chased down the 158-run target with eight wickets and seven balls to spare.
Malinga admitted that the Lions batted extremely well and deserved to win the match last night.
“I think we got to bowl on a good wicket,” said the 29-year-old right-arm fast bowler from Galle. “The new ball swung around a bit but after thahttp://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-George-Burrows-c93472 it didn’t do much. We were always thinking about bowling a good line and length,” he added further.
The Sling pacer also conceded that they did not bowl that well at some stages, and let the game slip despite being in a commanding position at one point.
“They were batting well but sometimes we didn’t bowl that well. I think that is the reason we couldn’t win,” said the Sri Lankan pacer.
Mumbai will next play county side http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yorkshire-c867 on Thursday.
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