Rohit Sharma, after his Mumbai Indians defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday, said that the team failed to capitalise on the foundation he and fellow opener Quinton de Kock laid. Kolkata defeated the defending champions by seven wickets. 

The losing captain added that Mumbai kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Quinton de Kock struck an entertaining half-century before Kolkata Knight Riders bounced back to restrict MI to 155/6. Rohit Sharma scored 33 off 30 balls.  Kieron Pollard (21) and Krunal Pandya (12) added 30 runs for the fifth wicket before both perished in successive balls of Lockie Ferguson’s last over.

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Talking about where the areas they went wrong, Rohit said, “Few areas. We started really well but didn’t get enough towards the back end. I thought it was a good pitch, we failed to capitalize on the start we got and we didn’t bowl well at the start. I don’t want to look into it too much, things can happen and you have to move on.”

Mumbai Indians are known for winning games at a trot at the business end of the tournament to somehow manage to qualify for the playoffs. After Thursday’s loss, the five-time champions occupy the sixth rung of the IPL points table. 

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“After a good start we had to get small partnerships but we kept losing wickets at regular intervals, it is not easy for new batters to go in and start hitting the ball. It is something that happened in the last game as well and we will address it. It is always there at the back of the mind on where you stand, we are still in the middle of the table, so we have to get back and fight and hopefully get some wins on the trot,” Sharma added. 

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Tripathi (74 not out off 42 balls) and Iyer (53 off 30 balls) put up 88 runs for the second wicket. Jasprit Bumrah picked up all the three wickets for Mumbai, giving away 43 runs from his four overs.