MS Dhoni-Manoj Tiwary onslaught not the only reason for MI’s defeat: Parthiv Patel

Although Manoj Tiwary credited Rising Pune Supergiant’s onslaught in the final two overs for their victory, Mumbai Indians’ Parthiv Patel sang the different tune after MI lost the Qualifier 1 against Steve Smith-led Pune unit here on Tuesday.

“These kinds of things can happen in this format when a set batsman is batting and when someone like (MS) Dhoni is batting. Obviously, we were in control but I won’t say just because those two overs we lost the game,” said the wicketkeeper-batsman.

“This was probably the par score. We were thinking 160 but we lost too many wickets after six overs,” added Parthiv, who scored 52.

RPS, who were struggling at 121/3 after 18 overs, were propelled to 162 as MS Dhoni and Tiwary hammered 41 runs in the last two overs bowled by Mitchell McClenaghan and Jasprit Bumrah.

When asked whether Bumrah missed the trick bowling just a couple of yorkers in the last few overs, Parthiv said: “No. If you have seen last couple of games or even last year, he has been successful against Dhoni. He got him out in the last game here. You sometimes have to give it to the calibre of the batsman as well. There is nothing taking away from Bumrah. He has been bowling brilliantly throughout the tournament. But one-off games like this, you have to give the credit to someone, who has played so many knocks like this.”

Parthiv, who did not feature in MI’s last league game against Kolkata Knight Riders as MI made six changes to their playing XI, also played down the suggestions that chopping and changing affected the team against RPS.

“No. Not really. See, I had a niggle, so, obviously I stayed back. And I was playing niggles since last 3-4 games so it was needed. And we were assured of first or a second position but sometimes in tournament like this, break can do good to you. I don’t think just because we all got a break, we were rusty. So, I think it was needed for us and rightly so.”

While MI lost the Qualifier 1, having finished in top two in the league stages offers them another opportunity to reach finals by beating either Kolkata Knight Riders or Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator.

“We got to believe that we got another chance because we played well throughout and that’s the reason why we got another chance playing an eliminator. But for us, it is very important to forget what has happened today and treat next game as a semifinal,” concluded Parthiv.