IPL 10: Good to have few bad days before playoffs, feels Parthiv Patel

The Mumbai Indians suffered their only 3rd defeat of the season this year when they lost to the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad at Hyderabad. They could only post 138 runs on the board as the SRH camp eased past the target to stay in contention for the playoffs. Despite the defeat, the wicket-keeper batsman of MI camp, Parthiv Patel, looked very composed after the game.

In the post match media interaction, the veteran cricketer noted that it is good to have a few off days at work such as this. The Mumbai Indians have been on a roll and are the only team to have qualified for the playoffs at the moment. Parthiv Patel reckons that such defeats will help the side improve. If they do not endure such days now, they might get into a shell later on.

“It was never a 180-190 wicket. We assessed it and knew it was 160-165 wicket. We got 140 and took it to the almost second-last over. They tried to finish it early but couldn’t do it. This kind of day can happen. We have been playing very good cricket throughout the tournament. It’s good to have such days before the playoffs start,” quoted Parthiv Patel.

He was then asked if the Mumbai batting needs to be tested. The middle-order, in particular, has seemed vulnerable on a few occasions. Patel begged to differ on this note. He cited that most of the top order batsmen in the side have runs under their belt this season. Hence, it is baseless to think on those lines at the moment.

“I don’t think we needed to test our batting unit. We batted brilliantly even in Delhi in last game on a difficult wicket. But on this wicket, if we could have got 160, we could have defended it. It was never about testing our batting. Almost every top order batsmen is near 300 runs, which shows we have batted well throughout the tournament,” said the MI keeper.

Reflecting back at the game, Parthiv noted that the score of 138 could have been defended. All they needed was to get early breakthroughs. He had his words of praise for the venue at Hyderabad as well. He looked excited at the prospect of witnessing the IPL finals at the venue this year since the ground is yet to host a big final such as this.

“We thought if we get couple of early wickets, we were in the game. We knew they were batting thin but needed to get couple of early wickets. It’s a wonderful ground to have the final played. It depends on the day as well. One game they scored 200, one game went to 170. It is a good venue to play. There has never been a final here so I am sure Hyderabad guys will love to see a final here”, conceded Parthiv Patel.