IPL 13, MI vs DC: Bowlers lost it in powerplay, maybe fatigue crept in, says Shreyas Iyer

After stumbling to a five-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians in the finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer said that his bowlers lost the plot in the powerplay and as a result, they were chasing the game since the start.

Mumbai Indians defeated Delhi Capitals by five wickets and eight balls to spare in the finals of the tournament on Tuesday at the Dubai International Stadium. As a result, Mumbai Indians won their fifth IPL title win for the Rohit Sharma-led side.

The franchise had earlier won the tournament in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. Rohit Sharma played a knock of 68 runs for Mumbai in the finals while for Delhi, Anrich Nortje scalped two wickets. This was the first time that Delhi had managed to reach the finals of the IPL.

"I feel in such big matches, you back your strength and in the last game, when we batted first, we really posted a good total, bowlers have been fantastic for us this season, it's just that the fatigue that crept in maybe, bowlers just lost it in the powerplay, I personally don't regret my decision to bat first after winning the toss, I thought it was a good decision of batting first as there was not much pressure," said Iyer during the post-match press conference.

"They (bowlers) have been outstanding, Rabada got the Purple Cap, he has been putting the gas throughout, Ashwin has a great mind and he knows the strategy, he comes in and he executes just the way teams want him to. As you see, we have been lacking in the starts in the majority of our games, that's what we need to work on going forward, we have leaked a lot of runs in the powerplay so we need to get tighter in that aspect as well, majority of the things will be same next season," he added.

Earlier, Delhi Capitals had won the toss in the finals against Mumbai Indians and the Shreyas Iyer-led side had decided to bat first.

Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant played knocks of 65 and 56 respectively as Delhi Capitals posted a total of 156/7 in the allotted twenty overs.

"You see definitely when you enter the finals, you want to get off to a good start and that is what we lacked in this game. Obviously, there was the pressure of getting a good total in the powerplay, but we lost wickets so it was important that we scored runs and not lost wickets. I think we reached a decent score in the powerplay, we were 41-3 and after that, we capitalised on that and got to a decent total until the 15th over, but after that everything came down," said Iyer.

"Rishabh and I were just backing our ability, we needed to rotate the strike as well so it was important to get 8-9 runs off every bowler and we had posted a decent total around the 15th over mark," he added.

Iyer and Pant got together at the crease with Delhi struggling at 22-3. The duo formed a partnership of 96 runs, but Pant lost his wicket in the 15th over and after his dismissal, Delhi's innings once again got derailed.

For Mumbai Indians, Trent Boult took three wickets (Marcus Stoinis, Ajinkya Rahane, and Shimron Hetmyer) while Nathan Coulter-Nile dismissed two batsmen -- Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel.

(ANI)

Also Read: IPL 13, MI vs DC: Skipper Rohit Sharma leads way as MI beat DC to lift record 5th title