Sachin Tendulkar thinks Wankhede pitch was the main hindrance in their victory
Mumbai Indians’ skipper, Sachin Tendulkar, expressed disappointment over his side’s shocking loss to Deccan Chargers on May 14, 2011, at the Wankhede Stadium.
Sachin said that the pitch was not to their liking, "The ball was gripping quite a bit. I think the wicket could have been better.”
The Indian batting maestro admitted that losing a match despite having considerable control over the game till the 19th over, was really disheartening.
Deccan, who chose to bat first, took a sluggish batting start as their first wicket fell on the second ball, when Michael Lumb was bowled by Lasith Malinga.
Mumbai bowlers displayed an effective bowling performance as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bharat-Chipli-c47949.
Malinga, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harbhajan-Singh-c61453 and Kieron Pollard claimed one wicket-each.
Although, Mumbai restricted their opponents to reasonable total of 135 runs but surprisingly Deccan displayed a marvellous bowling performance and did not let Mumbai batsmen stay on the wicket for a long time.
Tendulkar was the top scorer for his side by amassing 37 runs off 42 balls before he was trapped lbw by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anand-Rajan-c44173.
Pollard also played a useful innings of 24 runs off 13 balls including three fours and one six, before he was dismissed by Rajan.
Rajan became the pick of the bowlers in his side for claiming three wickets for 27 off three overs, while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 claimed two wickets.
Deccans’ strong bowling attack restricted Mumbai to 125 for the loss of eight wickets.
“Also while batting, we played a lot of dot balls. Pollard and Harbhajan brought us back in the match but their bowlers did a good job," the Mumbai Indians skipper said.
Mumbai, in most of the part of ongoing League, have been leading the points table with maximum wins but two consecutive defeats recently, have pushed them down to the third spot.
Looking at this sudden decline in Mumbai’s performance, the Indian World Cup winning star, admitted that this format of cricket is unpredictable.
Tendulkar, also added that some of the teams, who have been performing below average in the start, have now started performing above expectations.
Despite winning a match against Mumbai, Deccan are languishing at the second last spot on the points table with eight points. They have played 12 matches up till now, out of which they won only four and lost eight.
Mumbai in their next encounter will face http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820.
Tags: