IPL 2018 | Repeated middle order failures has cost us in this year's IPL, says Ben Cutting
Ben Cutting has lashed out on Mumbai’s middle-order failure and described it as the reason why they couldn’t touch the playoffs mark. Without blaming Mayank Markande’s horrible 10-ball three, he insisted that in this surface, you can’t expect the number 9,10 or 11 to do the job for you.
Ben Cutting nearly pulled out a victory from a lost cause for Mumbai Indians at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Sunday (May 20) night, but the Australian all-rounder got out on the second ball of the last over as the defending champions finished their IPL 2018 without a qualification for the knockout stage.
Needing 175 to win the match against Delhi Daredevils and secure their playoff berth, Mumbai lost their way in the middle on 122 for 7 when Cutting smashed 37 off 20 deliveries, with two fours and three sixes. But he was dismissed in the final over when 12 runs were needed to hand over the victory to bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils.
Without any hesitation, Ben Cutting blamed the Mumbai middle-order batsmen for their continuous failure which cost them a place in the playoffs.
“I think the target was more or less achievable. We have seen a
Ben Cutting, with young Mayank Markande, added 35 runs in their eight-wicket stand where Markande could only manage 3 runs from 10 deliveries - one can term it as a vital miss when more experience Jasprit Bumrah was sitting in the dugout. Asked if the leggie’s slow rate of scoring had impacted on the loss, Cutting immediately shut down the question and replied that in this surface, you can’t expect the number 9,10 or 11 to do the job for you.
“No, none of that comes on the back of Mayank at all. He is a young bloke, it shouldn’t be up to batsmen 9, 10 and 11 to score runs on that sort of a wicket when it’s hard to start at the best of times for the top six, let alone the bottom three or four. Again, as it has been a similar problem with other games this year, we lost 4 for 30 through the middle. And even though we got close, that dragged us down in the end.”
Talking about his wish of a more even contest, between bat and ball, throughout the season, he remarked that two bouncers in an over will be a good option for bowlers and the last day decisions for a playoffs spot speaks about the quality of this league on its own.
“I would love to see pitches favoring bowlers more. I would love to see two bouncers coming over. But IPL as a whole has been good, it’s been the fresh auctions, I think. We see how the points table has come down to today’s game to decide the final four, that’s what you want from a tournament like this,” the Australian all-rounder concluded.
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