Four days after being smashed for 48 runs, including 31 in one over against Punjab Kings, Tendulkar junior made a fine comeback against Gujarat Titans and ended the game with figures of 1/9 in two overs on Tuesday.
“He did well, obviously after what happened in the last game. It’s never easy to step out onto the ground that is a Colosseum with a big crowd. We will work on increasing his pace, but he did all that was asked of him today,” Bond said at the media conference after the match which MI lost by 55 runs.
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Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians IPL 2023 Highlights: GT beat MI by 55 runs
Left-arm seamer Arjun, who ended his long wait for an IPL debut on April 16 at the very venue where his father played his last international match, has managed to impress with his bowling, save the outing against Punjab Kings.
In the first game of his career, against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium, Arjun bowled the first and the third over. He returned with figures of 2-0-17-0. Then, with Sunrisers Hyderabad requiring 20 to win, he bowled the last over and gave away just four runs for one wicket.
“It’s a combination of things. We’re not executing what we need to. We’ve got pretty simple plans. Watch how we bowled in an area. We got hit and immediately resorted to some changes.
“It’s disappointing when we can’t distinguish plans when we are on the back foot during difficult run chases,” Bond said.
“Like in the last game, I think it was 100/4, and then we just dished up freebies. We gave (David) Miller and (Abhinav) Manohar free hits, and once we gave players to get in runs, they took the game away from us.
“And that’s the disappointing thing from our point of view. So we just have to be better in our decision-making and our execution. In short, it was a tough day for us,” he added.
Bond said Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan used the conditions at the Narendra Modi Stadium to their advantage while bowling, which put pressure on the MI batters.
“When you chase 208, the only plan is to keep going. We tried to ride the storm as the ball swung differently. Look at the way Hardik and Mohammed Shami bowled, not giving us free balls to hit.
“We had to try to manufacture something. Thus, the score at the end of the powerplay reflected how they bowled on a wicket, which they did the same to RR,” he said.
“The first six overs were tough for both teams, as it would get difficult for the bowling team because of the dew factor. We were trying to stop the damage to our run rate, which has taken another big hit tonight.”
(With inputs from PTI)