‘Poor finish with bat, not Chahar’s last over, cost MI’: Mahela Jayawardene

MUMBAI : Losing the match in the last over against Gujarat Titans didn’t haunt Mahela Jayawardene as much as the way Mumbai Indians choked while batting.The MI head coach was especially upset with how the team performed in the last 10 overs, scoring just 66 runs and losing six wickets. MI lost Suryakumar Yadav, Will Jacks and Hardik Pandya in a span of 12 balls, with the score at 106/5 in 12.3 overs and then added only 49 runs thereafter.“We didn’t play to our best, especially with the bat. We were set up nicely and just had to bat through the last eight overs, which we didn’t do smartly. We were probably 30 runs short on that wicket,” said Jayawardene. The defeat means MI will now need to win their remaining two matches, against Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals — both still in the playoff race — to be assured of a knockout berth.Asked about the decision to give Deepak Chahar the final over instead of Hardik Pandya or someone else, Jayawardene said, “Deepak did that job for us when ‘Booms (Bumrah)’ wasn’t there at the start of the tournament. He was good, our main bowler. It’s easier to ask me that question and for me to say, ‘yeah, maybe Hardik.’ Had Hardik gone for three sixes, you might’ve asked me why I didn’t bowl Deepak. I don’t like to go there. It wasn’t the decision (to pick Chahar for the final over), it was the execution. And that’s not where we lost the game. My thinking is that we lost the game when we had control of it.”