Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has put his weight behind his bowling battery after a six-wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday. After electing to bat first, MI posted a par score of 243 runs on the board, courtesy of a century from Ryan Rickelton, but their bowlers could not defend the score.

SRH got off to a flyer as their openers, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, added 92 runs in the Powerplay overs. All the MI bowlers conceded their runs at an economy rate of more than 10 as they could not hit the right areas against SRH. Even MI’s gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah returned with expensive figures of 0-54 in his four overs.

Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation, “I think this season we don’t have much option, we really need to see what all differences we can do. I won’t put my bowlers under the bus. I think as an overall unit, we have not been able to do what exactly Mumbai Indians stands for. We really need to see what all we need to work on, and it’s fine. I think we have passionate owners, we have passionate support staff. We always figure out something.”

Meanwhile, Naman Dhir had a woeful day in the field, dropping three catches of Travis Head, who went on to score a match-winning knock of 76 runs off 30 balls.

Speaking on missed chances in the field, Pandya added, “Yes, I think it’s been that kind of season. When you get a couple of chances, you grab them, that’s when the luck and momentum changes. If you don’t, it kind of hurts you, but it’s still fine. All the boys tried really well. They gave everything, it did not work out.”

Mumbai Indians will next take on arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Saturday.