We had control of the game but let it slip towards the end: Boucher

Mumbai Indians succumbed to their third defeat in six games in this edition of the Indian Premier League after Punjab Kings edged past the five-time champions by 13 runs in a high-scoring thriller at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday, April 22. 

The visiting side were 115 for four at the end of the 15th over and scored 96 runs, the second-most by a team in the tournament's history to post a formidable 214 for eight at the end of the innings. 

Punjab were brutal on Arjun Tendulkar in the back end of the innings and smashed him for 31 runs in one over, which changed the fortunes of the side. In the post-match press conference, Mark Boucher stated the reason behind opting for Arjun instead of Piyush Chawla and backed the youngster to come good in the coming games. 

"In hindsight, you probably look at Piyush Chawla and say, you should have bowled these overs, but sometimes the match-ups don't work. That's just the nature of T20 cricket. So no issues there. And then, for Arjun, it'll be tough on him coming at the back end and bowling at the Wankhede," he said. 

"As I said, the conditions are good to bat on. He maybe got one or two wrong, and they went the full distance. He probably felt like he was under a bit of pressure towards the end. But yeah, he'll live and learn from it. I wouldn't say early days, but it is midway through the IPL, and hopefully, he can come back stronger." 

"It's how you get up the next morning to conquer those sorts of mishaps that you have, and with the full support of not only the support staff but the team, one can try and get over this as quickly as possible and get back on the horse," he further added. 

Ahead of this clash, Mumbai were bolstered by the return of Jofra Archer, who missed the last few games due to a niggle, and the Head Coach was pleased with the performance of his speedster. 

"I thought Jof bowled us some good pace. He landed a couple of yorkers. The wicket was good to bat on, and thus, we knew it was going to be a tough night for our bowlers," he said. 

"I think for his first outing, we'll take it. Hopefully, he's not feeling any pain tomorrow and can be up and running and put his name in the selection for the next game. It's always good to see Jof running in at full pace, so we're grateful for that," he added. 

In pursuit of 215 runs, Suryakumar Yadav's 26-ball 57 kept Mumbai in the hunt, and despite a narrow defeat, the former South African player was happy with the batting unit. 

"It's always nice for Suryakumar Yadav to get some runs, especially the way he does, it always looks spectacular. Form is a funny thing, and sometimes you judge it by numbers. He's been hitting the ball really well in the nets, and it was just a matter of time before he translated that into runs. So, I'm very happy for him," he said.

"For Mumbai Indians, having him in some good form, hitting the ball so sweetly and playing the sort of devastating innings he did tonight, bodes well for the future for us going forward."

"I thought the game was in the balance. I thought we batted really well tonight. Maybe they did get too many runs which is disappointing because I think that, overall, if I look at the game, we had control for some percentage of the game but let it slip towards the end of our bowling," he concluded. 

Mumbai Indians will now face defending champions Gujarat Titans in an evening encounter on Tuesday, April 25, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.