Dubai: Mumbai Indians coach John Wright has admitted his team needs to urgently find a solution to their batting problems.
After crashing to their third successive Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 defeat against Chennai Super Kings here on Friday night — mainly due to their batsmen’s inability to post a big total — Wright said: “Our batting isn’t clicking and we are putting our bowlers under a lot of pressure, in the last two matches particularly. We have a pretty reasonable bowling attack but we cannot expect them to defend small totals. So we have to look at our batting and what order we put our players in and find a solution very quickly.
“There were some good things and some sloppy things [against Chennai]. The effort was good. Sometimes you go out and the game is taken away from you, the effort and intensity can drop.
“Harbhajan Singh is an example. He bowled magnificently, bowled one of the best overs I have seen, he created three chances in the same over. There was a catch that went down but those things happen.
“From the effort point of view, it was okay, but we can’t expect to win games when they are chasing a smallish total. Having said that, [Brendon] McCullum played well, but 20 [more] runs might have made a difference.”
Wright said that he might think of changing the batting line-up for the next game against Delhi on Sunday, hoping that could bring about a change in fortunes. “We need to have a good look at that and take some risks and make sure we utilise the batsmen that are in form and give them the best opportunity,” he said.
Defending IPL champions Mumbai, who lost legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar to retirement during the winter, also allowed other star men like Dwayne Smith, Mitchell Johnson and Glenn Maxwell to depart.
Asked if that might have been a mistake, Wright said: “The team and the management had to let some players go. I suppose when we play against them, we don’t like seeing them do well. There are players who were a big part of our team and there are players who have come in and are performing. We have missed them, but that’s the nature of the IPL.
“We’ve got to get our team up there. We’ve got to put the right people in our team list, get the right combination and keep backing them. When you lose the first three, it’s going to be a really tough competition.
“We’re really hungry for that first win. I will keep faith in the players we have, have a sharp edge and we’ll sneak a win. Hopefully we will build on that, but it has to happen soon.”
