Zaheer Khan during a post-match press conference in Dubai on Sunday.
Mumbai Indians' struggles in the ongoing IPL 2021 was increased further when the defending champions slumped to third consecutive defeat on Sunday night. The side, who currently sits sixth in the table, was handed their latest drubbing by Harshal Patel, who took a hat-trick in Royal Challengers Bangalore's 54-run win in Dubai.
MI's director of cricket Zaheer Khan, while speaking to media at the virtual press conference, felt Mumbai Indians are responsible for getting themselves in this mess and the batting form on the night, where they bundled out for 111 while chasing 165, was a concern while the pitch had no role to play in it.
"The wicket was just fine. You can make out from how the team batting first went and how we started. It is just the form-based situation for us, the middle order has not really fired for us in these last three games, which has put a lot of pressure. Losing wickets after getting that kind of start is never going to help you recover," said Zaheer during a virtual post-match press conference.
"We have not been able to get ourselves going as simple as that. You got to have 40 good overs of cricket to win games. We have been playing well in patches and we have not been able to sustain it," said Zaheer. "That has been the case so far. We have to get things moving really fast, it is going to be must-win games for us coming up and it is important that the team sticks together. Hunger and determination are going to be really important, the way MI is known for showing aggressive cricket, we have not seen that so far."
Spinner Rahul Chahar, who is also part of India's T20 World Cup squad, has found it difficult to pick wickets in the second phase with just one wicket to his name. The bowler conceded 33 runs to concede just a wicket against RCB but Zaheer said the young spinner has been bowling well and it's a matter of time before he finds a rhythm.
"If you are equating it with wickets then you can say that. But I am happy with the way he is bowling. The ball is coming out of his hand absolutely fine. When things are going tough, you are not able to get the rhythm going," he said.
