“Not What We Are Looking From Him”: Mahela Jayawardene On Mumbai Indians Star After Loss To Lucknow Super Giants
Mumbai Indians paid Rs 15.25 crore for left-handed batter Ishan Kishan in the IPL mega auction, and the franchise was counting on him to be at his best and help the Rohit Sharma-led side get off to a good start. However, after scoring 81 in the first game of the season, Kishan has struggled to find his rhythm and is currently in a slump. He has 199 runs at an average of 28.43 in eight matches so far. After the Mumbai Indians’ eighth straight loss this season, head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated that Kishan has struggled in recent games and that his performance is not what the team “expects from him up top.”
“Obviously, you can see on the field that he has struggled in the last four games after a strong start in the first few. I haven’t talked to him about it since the game to see what went through his mind about how we should approach it. We’ve given him the freedom to play his natural game, which he hasn’t done so well in recent games “During a virtual post-match press conference, Jayawardene said.
“We’ve talked to him before, and even today, when Rohit was batting well, he struggled. That’s a discussion I’ll have with him after the game. But, no, that’s not what we’re expecting from him at the top “Added he.
Kishan was unable to get going in the match against Lucknow Super Giants, scoring 8 runs off 20 balls. He failed to rotate the strike and was eventually dismissed in the eighth over of the innings by Ravi Bishnoi.
On Sunday, the Lucknow Super Giants defeated the Mumbai Indians by 36 runs to move into fourth place in the IPL points table
LSG batted first and scored 168/6 in 20 overs, thanks to skipper KL Rahul’s unbeaten 103-run innings. With this innings, Rahul became the first player in T20 cricket history to score three 100s against the same opponent.
LSG won by 36 runs after Krunal Pandya returned with three wickets to restrict Mumbai to 132/8.
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