We all made a few little mistakes, says disappointed McClenaghan after Mumbai Indians' loss

Mumbai: His best IPL haul in vain, Mumbai Indians pacer Mitchell McClenaghan was left disappointed after “little mistakes” saw them go down to Gujarat Lions by three-wickets in a thrilling match at the Wankhede stadium.

“I’m really disappointed. We swung the game as a fielding side numerous times. We all made a few little mistakes. We tried ourselves to be clinical, but this is something we will definitely be disappointed with,” said McClenaghan, who returned with a four-wicket haul, including two in the penultimate over last night.

Opener Parthiv Patel was the top-scorer with 34 runs as Mumbai struggled with their batting after being asked to take first strike by Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina. The hosts posted 143-8 in their stipulated 20 overs.

In the end, Gujarat needed 11 off last six balls but pacer Jasprit Bumrah was hit for two fours as the Lions clinched the match in the last over.

McClenaghan didn’t want to blame any one particular for the loss and said every single person made a few mistakes.

Asked whether top-order failure made the difference, he said, “Can’t point out, it’s a game of cricket, it does happen sometimes. It’s got to be a collective effort to win games of cricket. You can’t put the blame on just one area.

“Personally, I can pin-point out 4 leg byes and 12 runs from my second and last over. Every single person like I said made a few mistakes and if you are going to win close games against world class players, you can’t afford to do that.”

The New Zealand pacer was in all praise for Australian and Gujarat Lions opener Aaron Finch saying he played a “mature knock”.

“We did some scanning work with Bondy (Shane Bond), Ricky (Ponting) and Rohit (Sharma) last couple of days. We shut down the scoring zones predominantly, just a shame that we couldn’t get him (Finch) out (laughs).

“He (Finch) played a very mature knock and showed the class of the player that he is, (was) exceptionally good,” the 29-year-old left-handed pacer told reporters late last night at the post-match media conference.

In-form Australian opener Aaron Finch battled a hamstring injury to single-handedly take Gujarat Lions to a three-wicket last ball victory over defending champions Mumbai Indians in a thrilling IPL match yesterday at the Wankhede stadium.

On a query that fast bowler like him relies on short deliveries, the left-arm bowler said, “It changes all the time. I’ve been fortunate enough to play a lot of T20 cricket in many different conditions around the world in the last few years. Having experience on different pitches against different types of players, having a full repertoire is what you need as a T20 bowler these days.

“You can’t just rely on one skill, so I try and work on everything during training until I am clinical about yorkers, slower balls, bumpers, cutters everything. So it’s just working hard day in and day out, trying to improve on the things you are not as good, trying to improve on the things you are good at,” McClenaghan said.

To a query, the left-arm pacer said: “We have got great plans from our management staff, from Ricky (Ponting), at the end of the day it comes down to us executing our skills and performing to the best of our ability.

“In tight games like today, the smallest things can turn a game. We went on the right side tonight, hopefully we can bounce back in our next game in a couple of days,” he added.

Mumbai now travel to Hyderabad to take on Sunrisers on Monday.

On his evaluation of the Hyderabad-based side, McClenaghan said, “You look around the IPL this year in particular, every team is very, very strong. And the batsmen are world class. We get a lot of information from DJ and Bondy (Shane Bond) as bowlers. We work through very diligent plans and strategies and try to use it, and put it into place.

“We have to be clear about execution. Make sure you bowl a ball 100 per cent where you want to bowl. We look at every individual player, where their strengths and weaknesses and try and formulate a plan”.