We need to win all remaining games to qualify for semis:Tendulkar
Press Trust of India / East London May 09, 2009, 13:10 IST
With only three wins out of nine matches, Mumbai Indians find themselves at a lowly seventh spot in the IPL points table, and skipper Sachin Tendulkar admitted that from here on his side will have to win all their remaining matches to be in the fray for the semi-finals. Mumbai Indians slumped to their third consecutive defeat last night when Delhi Daredevils humiliated them by seven wickets here and the master blaster said not putting enough runs on the board has become a major worry for the side.
"Well I think whatever games are remaining we have to win them all. We have been pushed to the corner and we will have to start to put up some decent totals," Tendulkar said. "I think we didn't scored many runs on the board but the bowling department was very good. So the basic problem is not having enough runs on the board," he added.
He, however, lauded his bowlers for their gutsy display against Daredevils and making a match out of the paltry total.
"I don't think if you score 117 runs and still make a good match out of it and I think we were pretty much there in the match. Our bowling and fielding were disciplined. Sometimes things just don't click for you," he said. "It is always good to have big totals on the board but I think the positive of the game for us was that we were able to push the game to the 19th over. The spinners did a fantastic job. And they brought us back into the game."
Tendulkar also said that it was a tough call to leave out Sanath Jayasuriya from the playing eleven. Mumbai Indians yesterday dropped Jayasuriya and in his place roped in Luke Ronchi who was run out without opening his account. "Well I know it is tough. But sometimes you have to take certain calls. For both me and Shaun (Pollock), it was not a easy call. We know Sanath and he took it sportingly. It was a tough call for us and Luke was picked ahead of him," the Mumbai Indians skipper said.
Taking the blame on himself, Tendulkar admitted that his one over that cost 19 runs changed the course of the match after they seemed to have put the brakes on Delhi Daredevils at one stage. Tendulkar brought himself into the picture in the 15th over which fetched 19 runs with AB De Villiers hitting three fours and a six, all at the mid-wicket area, to turn the match in Delhi's favour.
"We bowled well and fielded well but that one over changed everything. "With the slow bowlers doing well I thought that if I come in... I didn't want to give them the pace," Tendulkar was quoted as saying in the IPL's official website.
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