IPL 2023Arjun Tendulkar did all that was asked of him against GT, says MI bowling coach Shane Bond

By India Today Sports DeskMumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond said that Arjun Tendulkar was able to do all that was asked of him against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday in Ahmedabad.

MI had another bad day in the office as the decision to put the home side into bat turned out to be a wrong one for Rohit Sharma and his men. Shubman Gill’s 56 and Abhinav Manohar and David Miller’s big hitting meant that GT ended up scoring 207 runs in their allotted 20 overs.

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The MI run chase never got going completely as they lost their skipper early and after a brief partnership between Ishan Kishan and Cameron Green, the wickets started to tumble at regular intervals.

Eventually, the MI innings came to an end at 152/9 in 20 overs, handing GT a 55-run win on Tuesday.

While there wasn’t a lot to cheer for the five-time IPL Champions, Arjun Tendulkar’s performance was a bright spot. The left-arm pacer had a horrendous outing against Punjab Kings and bounced back strongly against GT as he picked up the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha early.

Arjun was the pick of the MI bowlers, with figures of nine for one in his two overs.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, as quoted by MI’s official website, Bond said that Arjun did well against GT. The MI bowling coach said they would work on increasing the youngster’s pace but he was able to deliver on his targets in Ahmedabad.

Bond said that MI would need to execute all their plans if they want to find themselves in the playoffs this season.

“He did well today, obviously after what happened in the last game. It’s never easy to step out onto the ground that is a Colosseum with a big crowd. We will work on increasing his pace, but he did all that was asked of him today.”

“It’s never easy on the back of a bad day. A few of our bowlers had bad days over the last few games. And that’s the thing with T20 cricket, where you got to have thick skin in a short memory and must come out. We must execute all our plans to find ourselves in the playoffs at the back end of the tournament. We just have to be better at what we do,” said Bond.