IPL 2023 | We’re making same mistake over and over again: Bond slams MI bowlers

Mumbai Indians’ bowling coach Shane Bond has expressed his frustration with the team’s bowling unit for committing the “same mistake over and over again” in match situations, recently against Lucknow Super Giants.

Mohsin Khan made a fine comeback from a long injury lay-off as the left-arm pacer defended 11 runs in the final over against the destructive Tim David to hand LSG a five-run win over MI in the IPL here on May 16.

This was after LSG recovered from 123/3 in 17 overs to score 177 by the end of their innings, with Chris Jordan going for 24 runs in the 18th over. MI conceded more than 50 runs in the last three overs of LSG innings.

“For me, the most frustrating thing is about not sticking to the plans that we talk about. We were very clear with what we wanted to do on this wicket to players like Marcus (Stoinis) and where we wanted to bowl, we didn’t bowl there consistently enough,” Bond said at the post-match press conference.

“When you’re looking at a team plan, you’ve got to get the batsmen to hit in areas where you want them to hit. Make it as hard as possible for them. You don’t want them to hit you in areas that they want to hit.

“We saw that with Stoinis — a fine player. We knew he was trying to hit straight down the ground and we dished out balls for him to do it. In the end, his innings was the difference between the two teams.”

Stoinis flaunted his raw power on way to an unbeaten 89 off 47 balls as LSG recovered from a poor start to post a competitive total.

Stoinis smashed eight sixes in his belligerent knock and shared an 82-run partnership with stand-in skipper Krunal Pandya (49 retired hurt) after LSG found themselves reeling at 35 for three in the seventh over.

Bond added, “We’ve always prided ourselves in our preparation, the work that we do behind the scenes and how we review the game — the mistakes on which we want to improve. The frustrating thing is that we’re making the same mistake over and over again. From my point of view, it’s disappointing.

“For 15 overs, we were excellent, we delivered what we wanted to. One player put us under pressure. That’s what Rashid Khan did the other night and we made the same mistakes. It didn’t cost us in the last game, it definitely cost us tonight.

“You can never stop good players from scoring runs. You’d rather have players scoring 89 from 47 be at 70 from 47. Those 17 to 20 runs can make a difference. We’ve talked about that at Wankhede over the course of the year. You are talking about a difference of 10-15 runs,” he said.

“There’s no way we should have gone for 54 runs in the last three overs on that ground. It was just poor.” Mohsin, who missed the whole of domestic season due to a shoulder injury, helped LSG take a major step towards a top-four finish by holding his nerve in the final over.

Mumbai too remain in contention for a play-off spot despite the loss.