By IANS,
Mumbai : A beaming Shaun Pollock credited teamwork for the shocking win of Mumbai Indians over Delhi Daredevils by 29 runs in a Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match here Sunday.
Daredevils captain Virendra Sehwag, top scorer with 40, bemoaned the lack of application from his batsmen that saw them fall short of a modest total of 162.
Pollock, leading in the absence of regular skipper Sachin Tendulkar, felt that even after the early successes Mumbai Indians enjoyed, with the early wickets of Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan, the match was wide open till demolition man Sehwag was at the crease. “The wicket of Sehwag was the turning point in the match,” he said.
Pollock felt that it was just a matter of time before Mumbai Indians got their act together and said that the win over Kolkata Knight Riders galvanised the team into a fighting machine. “Every player is now adding to the team effort. The younger players too are coming in and doing the job that is required of them. We still have Sachin to come in to the side,” Pollock told the reporters.
It was Pollock’s knock of 33 that gave Mumbai Indians a respectable score of 162 and Pollock felt, “the wicket had a bit in it and we were confident we could put the pressure on Daredevils if we got some early wickets, and that is what happened.”
On the other hand, Sehwag felt that the failure by the opening pair to give the Daredevils a good start added to the pressure on the rest of the batting line-up. Sehwag also rued the fact that he did not get enough deliveries to face in the first six overs when the power-play was on.
He felt that his bowlers had done a superb job of restricting Mumbai Indians to 162, which was not a huge score in Twenty20 cricket, but the batting failed to do its job. “After the early loss of wickets it was always going to be a tough job to get the runs and the need of the hour was sensible batting, but we lost it.”