Harbhajan Singh believes that the impressive batting of the Mumbai Indians (MI) has failed them in their initial two matches of IPL 2023. At Wankhede in Mumbai on Saturday, April 8, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) restricted Rohit Sharma and the rest to 157/8 after they were asked to bat first. MS Dhoni’s squad then chased the target with seven wickets and 11 balls to spare, giving MI a second consecutive loss.
During a post-match chat on Star Sports, Harbhajan was asked about his thoughts on the Mumbai Indians defeat, to which Harbhajan replied:
“We say this team’s bowling is their weakness, but the batting has actually disappointed if we analyze it properly. The batters will have to score runs; then only your bowlers will come into the game.”
“They are not playing freely. A big team is one which plays freely. It didn’t seem that a five-time champion team would play this sort of cricket. They have big names in batting but they have disappointed in both the matches.”
The Mumbai Indians were firmly in control at 64/1 after 6.3 overs but then lost four wickets for just 12 runs.
“He doesn’t know how to take the game forward”: Harbhajan Singh on Tim David
Praising Tim David for his powerful shots, Harbhajan Singh noted that the heavy hitter wasn’t as skilled as Tilak Varma in placing the ball into gaps, explaining:
“Tilak Varma was definitely the hero in the first match, but once Tilak Varma got out today, it seemed no one had the awareness. Tim David was there, but he only knows how to play big shots; he doesn’t know how to take the game forward. The singles and doubles that Tilak took were good.”
Sunil Gavaskar added that the Mumbai Indians could not solely depend upon Rohit Sharma and that Cameron Green and Ishan Kishan need to contribute with significant runs, noting:
“There are players like Cameron Green who played one or two innings when he came here last year, and based on that, he was picked. He will have to perform like that. Rohit Sharma will not score runs in every match. So the youngsters like Cameron Green and Ishan Kishan will have to score 70-90 runs and even a century if possible.”
Kishan made a terrific 32 off just 21 balls but was unfortunately caught at long-on when attempting to launch a six off of Jadeja’s bowling. The left-arm spinner also took out Green with a spectacular return catch, unable to even move out of the way as the Australian all-rounder sent the ball straight back at him.