Mumbai Indians opener Ryan Rickelton admitted that the seven-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings was a “wake-up call,” however was assured that the five-time champions have what it takes to win the IPL Eliminator.
Mumbai missed a likelihood to seal a top-two end, faltering of their closing league recreation in opposition to PBKS on Monday (May 26, 2025). The defeat now units them up for the Eliminator on Thursday (May 29, 2025), the place they’ll face both Gujarat Titans or Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“They outplayed us… so it was a bit of a wake-up call,” Rickelton mentioned on the post-match press convention.
Invited to bat first, MI posted an underwhelming 184/7, which the Kings chased down with 9 balls to spare.
The wicketkeeper batter acknowledged that Mumbai have areas to fine-tune forward of the knockouts.
“It’s not the end of the world. In all honesty, the team is clicking very nicely we just need to sharpen up one or two things with the bat, ball, and in the field as well.
“We’ve received the abilities and group to win the Eliminator. The guys will certainly give attention to the areas we want to enhance, and I’m certain we’ll put up a robust efficiency,” he mentioned.
Reflecting on the efficiency in opposition to PBKS, the South African felt MI had been 20-runs brief of a good complete.
“We were obviously about 20 runs short. That said, we didn’t mind batting first. We know that if we can set up a good platform and post a total between 200 and 220, with our bowling attack, we’re usually in a strong position.
“Historically, we have defended 200 fairly effectively. It wasn’t a state of affairs we had been dreading. I simply suppose we misplaced wickets at essential moments, and that prevented us from getting these further 20 runs we had been aiming for.”
Published – May 28, 2025 04:37 am IST
