Four days after being beaten for 48 runs including 31 in one against Punjab Kings, Tendulkar junior made a fine comeback against Gujarat Titans and finished the match with numbers 1/9 in two overs on Tuesday.
“He did well, obviously after what happened in the last game. It’s never easy to get out on the pitch which is a Coliseum with a big crowd. We’ll work to increase his pace, but he has did everything he was asked to do today.” Bond said at the press conference after the match which MI lost by 55 points.
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Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians IPL 2023 Highlights: GT beats MI by 55 runs
Left-arm designer Arjun, who ended his long wait for his IPL debut on April 16 at the very venue where his father played his last international match, has managed to impress with his bowling save the exit against the Punjab Kings.
In the first game of his career, against Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium, Arjun won first and third. He came back with numbers of 2-0-17-0. Then, with Sunrisers Hyderabad needing 20 to win, he played last and gave up just four runs for a wicket.
“It’s a combination of things. We’re not executing what we need to. We have pretty simple plans. Look how we played in one area. We got hit and immediately resorted to some changes.
“It’s disappointing that we can’t see the shots when we’re down on tough chases,” Bond said.
“Like the last game, I think it was 100/4, then we just gave out freebies. We gave free shots to (David) Miller and (Abhinav) Manohar, and once we gave the points players, they took the game away from us.
“And that’s what is disappointing from our point of view. So we just have to be better in our decision-making and our execution. In short, it was a tough day for us,” he added.
Bond said Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan used conditions at Narendra Modi Stadium to their advantage when bowling which put pressure on MI’s batters.
“When you chase 208, the only plan is to keep going. We tried to weather the storm as the ball swung differently. Look at the way Hardik and Mohammed Shami played, giving us no free balls to hit.
“We had to try to fabricate something. So the score at the end of the power play reflects how they played at the wicket, what they did the same with RR,” he said .
“The first six overs were difficult for both teams as it would become difficult for the bowling team due to the dew factor. We were trying to stop the damage to our running pace, which suffered another blow This evening.”
(With PTI entries)
