After the second defeat at home, skipper Suryakumar Yadav calls on the top order to fire.
Suryakumar Yadav
Blaming the application factor again, Mumbai captain Suryakumar Yadav promised that the 41-time champions will bounce back from the two successive losses they suffered this Ranji Trophy season — against Railways the previous week and to Karnataka on Sunday at the MCA-BKC ground.
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"It's a difficult situation to address but it's just the third game. Looking at history, we have always come back stronger and we will come back stronger," said Suryakumar Yadav, who is set to miss Mumbai's next three games as he's been picked to travel with the India A squad to New Zealand on January 11 from Delhi.
"Like against Railways, it was due to lack of application. We could have done better in all departments. We failed as a unit. Maybe, in the first innings we could have batted better and got a 20-run lead and in the second got those extra 50 runs," said Suryakumar after Mumbai slumped to a five-wicket defeat to Karnataka on the third afternoon of the four-day game.
"I feel Mumbai versus Karnataka is always a tough encounter which we saw today. We were short by 50-70 runs, otherwise it would have been a close game," he said.
"Players coming in can fill in our (missing players' shoes). I will tell them to forget what has happened and focus on the next game (against Tamil Nadu in Chennai from January 11) and come back stronger," Suryakumar remarked.
He conceded that the team, that have lost two home games on the trot after winning their away lung-opener against Baroda, need to sit and find ways to address the top order batting failures in both their outright losses.
The Mumbai cricket team train at the MCA-BKC ground last week
Karnataka skipper Karun Nair said that beating Mumbai in the latter's backyard provided a great feeling. "A target of 126 was very much gettable. Our bowlers did really well to restrict Mumbai to cheap totals in both innings (194 and 149). We believe with our team members, we can beat any other team. We have beaten Mumbai in Mumbai which is a great feeling," said Nair.
"This wicket helped both spin and pace bowlers. We got good starts in both innings, lost a couple of wickets then and that's when the pressure comes in.
"Any sort of lead in a low-scoring game is crucial. But it is time for us to push on and keep the momentum going," the Karnataka captain added on Sunday.
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