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Batting let us down: Tendulkar

Centurion: Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar lauded his bowlers for restricting Deccan Chargers to 145 but said some irresponsible batting in the middle stage did his side in.

Rohit Sharma scored a breezy 38 and then picked up four wickets including a hat-trick to help Deccan Chargers defeat Mumbai Indians by 19 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Wednesday.

Special mention

Tendulkar made special mention about wicketkeeper-batsman Pinal Shah’s 19-ball 29-run cameo up the order, but came hard on his batters’ lacklustre show in the middle of the run chase.

“I thought the bowlers did a fantastic job. It was the batting in the middle stages that didn’t go according to our plan. Pinal batted really well, he kept the scoreboard ticking quite nicely. But it’s just that in between overs we lost wickets and didn’t score many runs,” Tendulkar said.

“Pinal was sent in for a specific role and he executed it to perfection. He has done his job, the rest of the guys now have to pick up,” he added. Tendulkar felt the wicket was perfect to chase a target around 160.

“I thought the ball was coming on quite nicely. It was a good wicket, 160 was a possible target.”

Crucial win

Meanwhile, winning captain Adam Gilchrist said the win was very crucial to determine his side’s fortune in the tournament, especially after three consecutive defeats.

“It seems these totals have been competitive right across the country. Unfortunately, all teams wanted few more, but the guys put up a great fight at the end. In these grounds with short boundaries, the guys struck well today. A lot of talking and a lot of planning charged them up. It’s a big win for us. We really needed it,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said.

Gilchrist also felt getting Sanath Jayasuriya and Tendulkar’s wicket early was crucial to Deccan Chargers’ success.

“Ryan took a great catch to get rid of Jayasuriya and then R.P. Singh bowled a beautiful ball to dismiss Sachin. Obviously, getting early wickets, especially of a batsman of the calibre of Sachin is highly important,” he said.

Gilchrist was full of praise for Man-of-the-Match Rohit who single-handedly changed the fate of the match in Deccan Chargers’ favour. — PTI

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