Mumbai Indians stand-in captain Kieron Pollard has said that the wickets turned better as their against Rajasthan Royals proceeded, as RR chased the 196-run target with 10 balls to spare.
Ben Stokes scored an unbeaten century while Sanju Samson remained not out on 54 to steer the Royals to win -- and keep their chances for a playoff qualificiation alive.
Pollard is leading the MI side in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who is forced to sit on sidelines due to injury.
"I thought they batted well. Hardik brought us straight back in the game with that knock at the halfway stage. We could have got a couple of wickets more, but the wicket ended up becoming a little better. Their spinners got some help from the pitch, but our spinners couldn't do that," Pollard said in the post-match presentation.
"At the end of the day, someone wins, someone loses. We just have to come out and play good cricket. Our bowlers tried, but well played to the opposition. He (Hardik) went out and scored 60* off 21, an innings like that and we end up on the losing side, that's just tough luck," Pollard further said.
MI had lost Pollard early but Hardik Pandya returned to his dominating-best as he slammed 60 off just 21 deliveries, hitting two fours and seven sixes en-route his innings.
Mumbai remain at first after the loss, however, but all the teams in the top three -- MI, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are tied at 14 points, with Net Run Rate separating the three.
