IPL 2023: Competition Is Very Tight; Need To Keep This Momentum Rolling, Says Jason Behrendorff

A six-wicket win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium, thanks to a sparkling 83 from Suryakumar Yadav and unbeaten 52 from Nehal Wadhera, meant five-time champions Mumbai Indians rose from eighth to third spot in the IPL 2023 points table.

With the win over Bangalore helping Mumbai stay alive in the race for the playoffs, left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff admitted that the competition this season has been very tight as the league approaches its business end.

"It's amazing. The competition's so tight (this year). This was a very important win for us, that's for sure. So hopefully we just need to keep this momentum rolling. We've got three big games coming up," he said in the post-match press conference.

In keeping Bangalore to 199/6, Behrendorff played a crucial role, taking out Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat and a rampaging Glenn Maxwell in his spell of 3/36 to control the run-flow and being the standout bowler for Mumbai.

"I think the partnership was about 100 or 50 balls at one stage. So, we really needed to, to break that partnership (between Maxwell and Faf du Plessis). We had a few different plans, a few things nearly worked."

"Then, we were able to sort of crack through it at the back end, which gave us a really good opportunity to dry them up towards the end of the innings. If we can take wickets at regular intervals and it stems the flow of the batters and gain, like we were able to take consistent wickets throughout the innings, which helped after that big partnership," he added.

Behrendorff also credited the batting line-up' scintillating performance for acing their third straight chase of 200 and upwards in the tournament. "It's credit to our batting group. We've got a really long batting line-up. We've got SKY, who is at a different, different level. He's been batting amazingly."

"We've seen what Timmy David can do at the back end. And then Nehal (Wadhera), who has come in in the last few games in particular and has really taken the game on. So, we've got some great options, which is really important."

Behrendorff signed off by hoping England pacer Chris Jordan comes good in the remaining matches after being drafted in as Jofra Archer's replacement. "It's unfortunate for Joff. Having had plenty of injuries myself, I can say it's never fun. So, Joff was great while he was able to play for us."

"Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out for him this season but we've got a class replacement in Chris Jordan. CJ has played a lot of cricket around the world. He's very experienced and yeah, he's especially good for bowling at the back end and he's really important to have in our team now."

Also Read: IPL 2023 Points Table

Mumbai's next match in IPL 2023 will be against defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.