DELHI, India, CMC- West Indies batting star Dwayne Smith says the Mumbai Indians are charged for one more shot for a spot in the finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday.
Smith said Mumbai Indians are eager to perform and will regroup from their thrashing at the hands of Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday. Mumbai, which also features West Indies player Kieron Pollard, meet Rajasthan Royals in the final playoff match today in Kolkata for a place in Sunday’s final against Dwayne Bravo’s Chennai Super Kings.
“We still have another chance. We have to regroup and comeback strong in the next game to get a chance to play in the final,” said Smith.
“We are still in the competition and our confidence will not drop”.
Smith said he was gutted after Mumbai Indians succumbed to Chennai by 48 runs.
Smith scored 68 off 28 balls with five sixes and six fours to put Mumbai Indians in a position of control as they chased a daunting 191.
However when he was out caught by Suresh Raina off Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling in the ninth over things start to go downhill for Mumbai.
“It is unfortunate to end up on the losing side. I love to win,” Smith told IPLT20.com.
The Barbadian batsman was scoring at a strike rate of over two hundred when CSK decided to take the strategic time-out before the seventh over. Smith was dismissed an over after the time-out.
“I do not think that the time-out broke the momentum of the game.
At some point of time it always had to happen and I was ready to regroup my innings after the short break,” he said.
“If I had been there for a little more time, we could have probably gone on to win the game.”
Smith’s West Indian team mate Kieron Pollard was the second highest scorer with 24 from 16 balls which included a six and two fours.
“There was a ray of hope when Kieron Pollard was going well, but wickets falling at regular intervals did not help our cause,” he added.
