T20 2018: Ben Cutting rues Mumbai's middle-order failure

Ben Cutting during his 20-ball 37 v DD on Sunday. Pic/AFP

Mumbai all-rounder Ben Cutting blamed the batting failure in the middle-order for Sunday's defeat in the must-win tie against Delhi at Feroz Shah Kotla on Sunday. Chasing 175, MI were bundled out for 163 runs in 19.3 overs.

"The target was more or less achievable. I have seen a variation of scores on this ground. The way we started with the bat was perfect. It's just that we lost our way in the middle. That score was close to the par or maybe five runs too many," Cutting said.

From 73-2, MI tumbled to 78-5. They lost three wickets - Evin Lewis (48), Kieron Pollard (7) and Krunal Pandya (4) - within five balls. Hardik Pandya (27) and skipper Rohit Sharma (13) added 43 runs before they were sent back as Mumbai slipped to 122 for seven in 14.5 overs.

Cutting almost took Mumbai to victory with some lower-order heroics, scoring 37 runs off 20 balls, but once he fell in the second ball of the final over, it was all over for the visitors.

"It is the responsibility of the top six batsmen to get the runs. As a batsman it shouldn't come down to No. 9, 10 or 11 to score runs. We have had similar problems in the past. We lost 4-30 through the middle of the match. We got close but it dragged us down at the end of the day," Cutting said.

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