Mumbai Indians' owner Nita Ambani bid an emotional goodbye to a crestfallen group of players after their defeat in Qualifier 2 to Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat. Ambani said she will miss all of them, having been with them for 11 weeks and sharing smiles and good moments.
Shreyas Iyer, who walked in at number four after Josh Inglis and Priyansh Arya had stabilised things, shepherded the run-chase of 204 exceptionally well as he proved to be the catalyst. Earlier, Mumbai Indians got to a competitive total of 203 on the back of Suryakumar Yadav and Naman Dhir chipping in with 44 runs each.
However, Iyer hammered eight sixes in his unbeaten 41-ball knock and ended Mumbai Indians' run of defending 200+ scores successfully in their tournament history, thereby eliminating them out of contention.
In a video shared by Mumbai Indians on social media, Ambani said:
"I just want to kind of now wish all of you the very best as you all go back to your countries and play for your own countries. I will miss you all. I'm so used to now, 11 weeks of being and seeing all of you, sharing those smiles and high fives. Until then, take care, good luck and all the best."
"We made a few blunders obviously" - Mahela Jayawardene
At the post-game press conference, Mumbai Indians' head coach Mahela Jayawardene heaped praise on Punjab Kings due to how comfortably they chased down the total. At the same time, the former Sri Lankan captain acknowledged Mumbai's blunders. He stated, as quoted by Cricbuzz:
"They were solid, especially chasing 200. It's not that easy. They've executed that pretty well. We made a few blunders obviously, with those two catchers, but that's how the game goes. We had that luck going our way in the previous game. So I think it was a good game of cricket, and we came short. It's as simple as that."
