Coach Mahela Jayawardane pulled up Hardik Pandya and other young batsman for their inconsistency after Mumbai Indians slumped to their fifth defeat in six IPL matches this season.
The defending champions failed to chase a target of 119 after being bowled out for 87 in 18.5 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday. Opener Suryakumar Yadav (34) and Krunal Pandya (24) were the only batsmen to reach double figures as Mumbai suffered a 31-run loss.
“Every year you can’t bat the same way, if people don’t evolve and improve, there is no progress. Young guys like Hardik will learn that and need to work harder, the talent alone will not get you,” Jayawardene said after the match.
“Leading the game and thinking about the game, that’s the part they need to keep learning and specially with good international bowlers coming and doing various things you have to evolve otherwise you won’t be able to be consistent,” he added.
Disappointed at the loss, Jayawardane blamed the batsmen for not taking responsibility during their chase.
“Today I am disappointed. Some of the matches we lost, I thought we played good cricket, they could have gone either way, it is T20 cricket. We just probably played the wicket thinking there is going to be demons out there and we just have to knock it around. We did not take any responsibility, so that part is quite disappointing.
“The dew came in as we expected after 10 overs, so no one took responsibility that is quite sad,” Jayawardene said.
The former Sri Lankan captain said Mumbai batsmen should have exploited the young attack of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were without the services of their strike bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Billy Stanlake.
“We didn’t play with our heads today. We really didn’t have to take chances against their main bowlers. We had to knock it around and then may be couple of bowlers we could have attacked,” he said.
“They were not there with their full strength, with no Bhuvi, they had their young attack and we could have taken advantage of that, so thinking wise we were very poor,” he conceded.
Mumbai Indians will have a task at hand qualifying for the playoffs with only one win in the season so far.