We didn’t execute well, says Jayawardene

“We had our opportunities getting to the playoffs and we had a really good game first up. And even today, I thought we played some good cricket, except for Kings playing better cricket than us, especially with the bat. They were solid, especially chasing 200,” he said

HYDERABAD: Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene said that the only way they could have got into the game was to take wickets.

“I mean, there could have been a lot of ifs and buts, but I think we didn’t play a perfect game and we paid for it. Like I said, I think it was a good campaign for us, the way we started and how we regrouped as a team and played some really, really good cricket,” Jayawardene said in the post-match briefing after the team got drubbed by Punjab Kings in the IPL Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on Sunday night.

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“We had our opportunities getting to the playoffs and we had a really good game first up. And even today, I thought we played some good cricket, except for Kings playing better cricket than us, especially with the bat. They were solid, especially chasing 200,” he said.

“It’s not that easy. They’ve executed that pretty well. We made a few blunders, obviously, with those two catches, but I think, you know, that’s how the game goes,” Jayawardene said.

“We had that luck going our way in the previous game. So, I think it was a good game of cricket and we came short. Our execution wasn’t up to the mark. I think that’s as simple as that,” the Mumbai head coach said.

“It’s just that middle phase we just couldn’t control that after the 10th over, that four, five overs, we just couldn’t keep the pressure going. And that’s where, especially Nehal and Shreyas, their partnership probably took the game away from us,” Jayawardene said.

“I mean, you can look at it in different ways. I think Hardik looked at it because we knew that there were a couple of match-ups against Nehal and he didn’t want to get the game away from him. So that was one over try that he tried from the other end,” he said.

“The game is such that you have to make some decisions and sometimes it goes, sometimes it doesn’t. So we will reflect on that, have a debrief. It was a good season for us, but it wasn’t to be this year,” Jayawardene said.

“I mean, Naman Dhir has been brilliant. We we’ve spoken to him about this role sometime back after the auction as well,” he said.

On the IPL final, Jayawardene said he wanted to wish both the teams which deserved to be in the final.