MI are not playing to potential: Rohit

MI’s Kieron Pollard is clean bowled by DC pacer Anrich Nortje at Sharjah on Saturday. Pic/BCCI; IPL

Shreyas Iyer showed steely temperament while R Ashwin compensated his poor bowling effort with a final six as Delhi Capitals (DC) inched towards a top-two finish, beating Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets in an IPL match here on Saturday.

Chasing a modest 130 on a challenging Sharjah Stadium track, DC made a rough weather of the chase, but Iyer with a run-a-ball 33 anchored the innings and added crucial unbroken 39-run stand with Ashwin (20 not out).

Needing just four runs from the last over, Ashwin sealed the chase with five balls to spare as he hit a six off Krunal Pandya as the duo shared a match-defining partnership, consuming 36 balls. The win took DC to 18 points from 12 games.

Tough road ahead

Dejected MI skipper Rohit Sharma said his side is not playing to its potential as the defeat made their road to play-offs tougher. The defending champions are placed seventh in the points table after five wins.

Rohit Sharma. Pic/AFP

Rohit counted himself among the batting failures this season as MI yet again settled for a below-par score of 129-7.

"If your batters aren't going to post runs on the board, it will be difficult to win games. I personally accept that. We're not able to execute in the middle, which is particularly disappointing," Rohit said.

"We are not playing to our potential. Hopefully in the next two games, we will play the way we are known for."

Also Read: Mumbai Indians are not playing up to their potential, says Rohit Sharma

Rohit said they knew that Sharjah "will be a difficult venue" and prepared in the best possible manner.

"We watched a lot of matches, and it's not the easiest venue to play and make a lot of runs. We were well prepared and we knew what we had to do," he said.

"We knew it wasn't a 170-180 wicket, but we knew it was a 140 wicket. We just didn't get the partnerships going."

Earlier, when star bowler Ashwin (1-41) was completely off-colour, Axar (3-21) dismissed Quinton De Kock (19), Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Saurabh Tiwary (15), ensuring that runs were hard to come by in the middle overs.

Avesh shines

But it was their uncapped Indian pacer Avesh Khan (3-15) who continued his dream run in the IPL and set it up for Capitals, hurrying Rohit with sheer pace.

Brief scores
MI 129-8 in 20 overs (S Yadav 33; A Khan 3-15, A Patel 3-21) lost to DC 132-6 in 19.1 overs (S Iyer 33', R Pant 26) by 4 wickets

Also Read: IPL 2021: Hardik might struggle if pushed to bowl, says MI coach Jayawardene

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