"It's a funny game. I have seen enough T20 cricket, it happens. A bit of pressure and a few good shots created this opportunity for us," Jayawardene said.
MI snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, overhauling KKR's challenging score of 178 with one ball to spare at the Wankhede Stadium last night.
"You always need to have that belief, happy that players had that belief. It was brilliant," said the stylish former Sri Lanka batsman and captain.
"I am pretty pleased and I am glad two young players carried us through. Nitish anchored the innings and took the game deep and Hardik came in and finished the job," said Jayawardene.
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Rana made 50 in 29 balls to put MI well in sight of victory before departing in the penultimate over. Pandya finished the job with a four to long leg off the fifth ball of the last over to remain unbeaten on a 11-ball 29.
"We are flexible in batting order to have left-right combination. We back them even if they fail. Little things, we are trying to do right. Nitish is a very talented player and showed a lot of quality today, hopefully we can see more of that from him," he added.
Jayawardene said it's not an easy tournament and his side need to have that surprise element going forward.
"Good to have more options in bowling. Hardik did not bowl at all today. It's a hyena hunt if we can hunt as a group, I think we will have a lot of success," he said about the team's bowling options.
Jayawardene steered clear of questions about umpiring standards after two of his batsmen were given out in what appeared to be dubious decisions on viewing TV replays.
Buttler was out to a full toss from Ankit Rajpoot which appeared to be going down the leg while Rohit clearly edged the ball on to his pads and was shockingly given out.
Rohit remonstrated with the umpire and has been reprimanded by the match referee for the Level 1 offence, under the IPL's Code of Conduct.