Mumbai Indians' bowling coach Shane Bond doesn't feel conceding runs in the middle and death overs is becoming a problem for the five-time champion Indian Premier League side as it slips on the points table after losing two consecutive matches here.
The latest defeat a seven-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday saw MI slump to sixth place on the points table with eight points. KKR notched up the required runs with nearly five overs to spare, with Rahul Chahar (34 runs in 3 overs) and Jasprit Bumrah (43 in 4 overs) bearing the brunt of the batsmen, though the latter took three wickets.
I don't think so (team conceded runs in middle and death overs) because if you look through the tournament our bowling groups did a pretty good job. The wickets were tough when we played in Chennai where we scored 150 and defended a couple of times in the first couple of games that we were out of, said Bond, the former New Zealand tearaway bowler.
First game (against CSK) we had put up a very good bowling performance but a couple of big overs cost us. We had kept them down to the score that we felt was below par but couldn't chase it down. Today look, they played really well you have to give them that credit.
They came out, were positive, put us under pressure. They bowled in some good areas and we understand they were good enough. They just kept that pressure on us and we just were not good enough to respond. Bond said that no team can be so consistent as Mumbai Indians if their bowling department is weak.