DELHI – Dwayne Smith says his Mumbai Indians are charged for one more shot for a spot in the finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday.
The Barbadian T20 captain said Mumbai were eager to perform and would regroup from their thrashing at the hands of Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday.
Mumbai, who also feature another West Indian Kieron Pollard, meet Rajasthan Royals in the final play-off match today in Kolkata for a place in the final against the Super Kings.
“We still have another chance. We have to regroup and come back strong in the next game to get a chance to play in the final. We are still in the competition and our confidence will not drop,” Smith said.
He added that 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 control as they chased a daunting target of 191.
However, after he was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth over things start to go downhill. New West Indies One-Day captain Dwayne Bravo took three wickets for nine runs to close out victory for the Super Kings.
Pollard was the second highest scorer with 24 from 16 balls.
“It is unfortunate to end up on the losing side. I love to win,” Smith told IPLT20.com.
He was scoring at a strike rate of over 200 when Super Kings 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,” Smith said.
“If I had been there for a little more time, we could have probably gone on to win.” (CMC
