IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians’ batting needs to step up if the team hopes to do well in the Indian Premier League this season, feels former India cricketer Irfan Pathan.
Mumbai Indians lost their Indian Premier League 2023 opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday, 2 April. Put into bat first, Mumbai scored just 171 runs at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. The below-par score happened due to a poor effort from the Mumbai top order that lost three wickets inside the powerplay. A star-studded top order of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Cameron Green got out for just 20 runs in the game, leaving Mumbai reeling in their first match.
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Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan spoke about Mumbai’s woes in the first match and said that the batting unit needs to stand up, if the team wishes to do well in the tournament. Speaking to Star Sports after the match, Pathan said that Sharma needed to fire and the entire responsibility cannot be left to the young Tilak Verma, who scored 84 off 46 balls against RCB.
“That situation will not come because it is a much better team. Rohit Sharma’s bat has to fire. The two young batters did show their might, they showed that they can play the big knocks, but you cannot leave all the responsibility on Tilak Varma,” Pathan said after the game on Star Sports.
Stating that Mumbai have a relatively weak bowling attack, Pathan said that the batters needed to shoulder responsibility and fetch the team big totals in good batting tracks.
“If the Mumbai Indians have to perform well and qualify this season, the batting will have to definitely show the might because the bowling is not that strong. So they will have to cover it up slightly through their batting,” Pathan argued.
MI finished with wooden spoon last season and did not start well in the IPL 2023 as well, losing to Bangalore by 8 wickets and 22 balls remaining. Mumbai will take on Chennai Super Kings on 8 April in their next game.
