Power-play a concern, says Jayawardene

Jayawardene backed former captain Rohit Sharma after yet another low score.

Hyderabad: “The powerplay is a concern for us with the ball and the bat. In the last few games as well, we were leaking too many runs with the ball in the power-play as well,” says Mahela Jayawardene, head coach of Mumbai Indians after the team lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL league match in Mumbai on Monday night.

“We got an early wicket today as well – first over – but then they counter-punched, played some good shots, and we just did not react well to that. These are the margins and then they had a big sixth over, which really hurt us in that powerplay,” he said.

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“With the bat as well, I thought we had a good start but just couldn’t continue. We lost those two wickets and then we had to consolidate a little bit and lost a bit of momentum there. We had a few big overs in between but we just weren’t in the game in that first ten overs. The margins are small in this competition and we’re not hitting our strides and that is a concern,” Jayawardene explained.

“I still back the senior pros and all the guys I put out there. They have the skill. It’s just that we need to be a bit more ruthless,” he said. “At times, we’re missing out on those one or two overs where we lose our discipline. So that’s with the bat as well as with the ball. That’s something that we need to rectify,” the Sri Lankan great said.

“The guys who have the experience know how to handle tough situations and be mentally stronger going forward. So that’s something that we will bank on and make sure that we really focus on getting the group together and be positive and play the next game,” he said.

Jayawardene backed former captain Rohit Sharma after yet another low score. “I’m sure Rohit’s been working on it, he’s been practicing hard and he’s a very experienced player,” he said.