Zaheer Khan, director of cricket operations for Mumbai Indians, said that the middle-order’s failure in its last three Indian Premier League (IPL) matches has put pressure on the defending champions. On Sunday, Mumbai Indians lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 54 runs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

He also added that the team is known for dominancy and aggression which has been absent so far.

“The way MI is known in terms of showing dominance and playing cricket, that aggressive nature of cricket, so far we have not seen,” Zaheer Khan said.

However, he did not rule out a strong comeback.

“Well, we don’t have that much time right now, we will have to really get things moving very fast, it is going to be must-win games for us coming up, so it is very important that the team sticks together and brings whatever it takes to win games of cricket.

“I think that hunger is going to be very important, that determination is going to be very important for us going forward and we got to believe it, this team has done it in the past, so there is no reason why we can’t do it,” said Zaheer.

Talking about the middle-order’s poor batting performance, Zaheer said: “I think the wicket was just fine, you can make out from how the team batting first went and how we started. I think it is just the form-based situation for us, you know the middle-order has not really fired for us in these last three games and that has put a lot of pressure,” Zaheer said.

“So losing wickets after getting that kind of start is never going to help you recover,” he added at the post-match press conference.

Glenn Maxwell took up the all-rounder’s job and executed it to the T. He was ably supported by Harshal Patel who took a hat-trick to guide RCB to a win.

The former left-arm India speedster also had words of praise for Harshal.

“He has got the hat-trick, so the man should be on the moon. Bowled very well, his slower one is something, which has become a trend for this IPL and he is having a fantastic season,” said Zaheer.