Mumbai bowling coach Shane Bond is optimistic about defending champions chances of making it to the playoffs despite their sixth loss on Tuesday v Bangalore
Bangalore's Mohammad Siraj celebrates the wicket of Mumbai' Kieron Pollard at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday. Pic/PTI
Virat Kohli took a different approach when it came to his side's death bowling on Tuesday night. On Labour Day, he decided to treat his bowlers as officers and allowed them to take their own call as to where to bowl, what fields to place. "We wanted them to take decisions and take responsibility for the same, whatever the result," said Kohli after he led the Bangalore to victory against the Mumbai at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here."
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Declared man of the match for his fine bowling at the start and at the death, the latter normally being a huge concern area for Bangalore, Kiwi pacer Tim Southee concurred with his skipper. "It got a little bit close towards the end, but I think Virat backed the guys to go out there and back their strongest skill set, and we saw that with the way (Mohd) Siraj closed out his last over and made my job a little bit easier with a few more to defend. I think we assessed the conditions and executed majority of the time," said Southee.
Shane Bond
They did execute their plans so well that with a sixth loss, Mumbai find themselves on the very edge. "We have lost six now, so we are very disappointed in the way we are going. We have six games left that we have to win. Even if we win (them), it might not be in our hands, depending on the other results.
"So, we can't think that far down the track. We just have to turn up against Punjab in a couple of days and play well. I still believe when you look at our squad, we have key players who can win us six games in a row. We have done it in the past, I believe that we can, so we just have to take one game at a time and hopefully we can do that," Mumbai bowling coach Shane Bond said.
Bond, of course, has reason to be optimistic. For, not only have Mumbai done it in the past, coming back from the dead that is, there is also no doubting they have one of the stronger line-ups in the tournament. Its just a question of firing more in unison.
Also Read: T20 2018: Virat Kohli's Win Over Mumbai Is Birthday Gift To Anushka Sharma
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