Mumbai Indians fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan expressed disappointment at is team's narrow loss to Gujarat Lions in the IPL match on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium.
>Report: Gujarat Lions wins last-ball thriller
“I’m really disappointed. We swung the game as a fielding side numerous times. We all made a few little mistakes. We tried ourselves to be clinical, but this is something we will definitely be disappointed with,” said McClenaghan, who took four wickets, inluding two in the penultimate over of the game to swing the match in his favour.
After being inserted in, Mumbai stuttered throughout its innings, eventually reaching 143 for 8 in its 20 overs, helped by Parthiv Patel's 34 and smaller contributions from the middle and lower order batsmen. Gujarat similarly struggled to find a foothold in its reply, and needing 11 off the last six balls, pacer Jasprit Bumrah was hit for two boundaries as the target to win was reached on the last ball of the match.
McClenaghan attributed the loss to small mistakes from his team as a group. The top-order failure alone could not be the reason for the loss,he conveyed, “Can’t point out, it’s a game of cricket, it does happen sometimes. It’s got to be a collective effort to win games of cricket. You can’t put the blame on just one area," he said.
“Personally, I can point out 4 leg byes and 12 runs from my second and last over. Every single person, like I said, made a few mistakes and if you are going to win close games against world class players, you can’t afford to do that.”
The New Zealand fast bowler praised the match-winning knock of 67 (unbeaten) scored by Gujarat Lions opener Aaron Finch. “We did some scanning work with Bondy (Shane Bond), Ricky (Ponting) and Rohit (Sharma) last couple of days. We shut down the scoring zones predominantly, just a shame that we couldn’t get him (Finch) out (laughs).
“He (Finch) played a very mature knock and showed the class of the player that he is, (was) exceptionally good," McClenaghan said. Finch overcame a hamstring injury to conjure the half-century that steered his side to the three-wicket win.
To excel in the T20 circuit, McClenaghan said, a bowler needed a complete arsenal. “It (reliance on a particular type of deliveries) changes all the time. I’ve been fortunate enough to play a lot of T20 cricket in many different conditions around the world in the last few years. Having experience on different pitches against different types of players, having a full repertoire is what you need as a T20 bowler these days.
Variety
"You can’t just rely on one skill, so I try and work on everything during training until I am clinical about yorkers, slower balls, bumpers, cutters everything. So it’s just working hard day in and day out, trying to improve on the things you are not as good, trying to improve on the things you are good at,” McClenaghan said.
"We have got great plans from our management staff, from Ricky (Ponting), at the end of the day it comes down to us executing our skills and performing to the best of our ability. In tight games like today, the smallest things can turn a game. We went on the right side tonight, hopefully we can bounce back in our next game in a couple of days,” he added.
Mumbai will next play Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday.
McClenaghan believed Sunrisers Hyderabad was a strong side, like other IPL teams. “You look around the IPL this year in particular, every team is very, very strong. And the batsmen are world class. We get a lot of information from DJ and Bondy (Shane Bond) as bowlers. We work through very diligent plans and strategies and try to use it, and put it into place.
“We have to be clear about execution. Make sure you bowl a ball 100 per cent where you want to bowl. We look at every individual player, where their strengths and weaknesses and try and formulate a plan."
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