Mumbai Indians batter Ishan Kishan celebrates his fifty during the IPL 2023 cricket match between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, in Mohali, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (PTI Photo/Manvender Vashist Lav) Mumbai Indians (MI) on Wednesday pulled off a freak show as they chased down the fourth-highest total in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) in Mohali.
Post their triumph over the hosts, MI’s young gun Nehal Wadhera revealed that the side has been practicing by forming two teams from their own squad and that has given them a major boost.
“We are playing practice matches among ourselves by making two teams from the squad. Both the teams are posting 200+ consistently so a lot of confidence for these kinds of run chases is coming from those practice matches,” he said during the post-match conference.
Wadhera said that it is the demonstration of the calibre of their batting lineup that they can chase down 200-plus plus scores against elite bowling teams like RR and PBKS. He reckoned that the Impact Player rule had offered depth to the batting order and supported our bowlers.
EK NUMBERRRRRRRRRRR CHASE, ONCE AGAIN! 🔥#OneFamily #PBKSvMI #MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #TATAIPL #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/4DKYOkB0VN
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) May 3, 2023
“We have great faith in our bowlers. All teams are scoring huge scores this season so it is not that the bowlers are doing something wrong.
“The Impact Player rule also gives the batters a bit of freedom to play fearlessly as they know they have an extra batter in their wings. The rule has also led to more close finishes in the IPL which we love to watch.”
Wadhera also lavished praise on Suryakumar Yadav and said that it’s his hardwork in the nets that makes his shots appear natural.
“No doubt, he (Suryakumar Yadav) is a 360-degree player. He practices his shot a lot of times in the net and that’s why those shots seem like they come naturally to him,” he said.
“He is one of the finest T20 batters in the world. He doesn’t shy away from giving us good tips on how to pull off those extravagant shots. We learn a lot from him,” he added.
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