IPL 2023: CSK Bowling Hurt Us More Than Rahane's Innings, Says MI Head Coach Boucher

Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mark Boucher feels that Chennai Super Kings (CSK's) impressive bowing effort hurt his side more than Ajinkya Rahane's swashbuckling half-century as his side lost to MS Dhoni's team in an IPL 2023 match, here.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja claimed 3/20 to break MI's back and Ajinkya Rahane then slammed the fastest fifty of the 2023 season off 19 deliveries as CSK thrashed archrivals by seven-wicket at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Saturday night.

"Look at our bowlers and their batters. We have not had enough runs on the board. In the game of T20 cricket, especially now when we have impact players, we had seven batters today. For us to make 157 was not good enough on that wicket. We probably should have got 180-190 and we really could have judged our bowling.

And the way Rahane played. He played some good cricket shots but it was their bowling that hurt us at the end of the day. So full credit to them. (There were) a couple of lucky dismissals. That Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) shot probably should have gone for a four. It was unlucky for him that he got caught. So, the bowling hurt us more than Rahane's innings," Boucher said in a post-match press conference.

Speaking about Suryakumar's form, the head coach said that he does not want to put too much pressure on him and he is hopeful that the top-order batter will come to his form at some point in the tournament.

"Surya is an extremely talented cricketer, one of the world's best T20 cricketers, if not the best. He has not had the weight of runs of late but he is a fantastic player. Hope he can come good for us in the near future. I don't want to put too much pressure on him. We all know what he can do. That is just the game of cricket. Sometimes you go through little patches where you struggle for form," he said.

"We'll back him and try to set him some new challenges to get his mind off his own game if that's what will help him to try to get some good form going into the middle and end stages of the tournament," he added.

The 46-year old Boucher also blew away the smoke surrounding Jofra Archer's absence. He confirmed that the England star would be back in action soon.

"He has picked up a little niggle, and we have a fantastic medical team looking after him. He's obviously a massive player for us as well, so hopefully, you know they can pass him fit sometime soon. We will always look after the player, so if he's not ready to put his hand at play, then we'll look after him as well. But we're following the medical advice from our team at the moment. So yeah, hopefully, he's up for selection pretty soon," he said.

After suffering two losses on the trot, the five-time champion Mumbai Indians are placed eighth in the standings. They will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on April 11. 

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