KIngs XI Punjab captain George Bailey today said that his side were the deserved winners in their IPL cricket match against Mumbai Indians though Harbhajan Singh's blinder of an innings gave them some anxious moments.
"It got a little hairy there at the end. T20, that is what happens. He is a beautiful striker of the ball. But we deserved to win as our bowling was outstanding, not to take anything away from Bhajji though," Bailey said after Kings XI beat MI by 18 runs in an exciting contest.
Harbhajan (64 of 24 balls) played a blinder of an innings to single-handedly take Mumbai to striking distance of a dramatic victory before his side lost the match by 18 runs.
Asked about the pitch at the Wankhede and the tournament ahead, Bailey said, "It was a beautiful wicket. It's a long race and we have to be consistent.
"It is a tight schedule and hopefully I will find a cool drink," said Bailey who was named man of the match for his 32-ball 61 not out.
Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma said the match was as good as over by the sixth over of the home side's run chase. Mumbai were down 17 for 3 in the sixth over in chase of a stiff target of 178.
"Suchith and Harbhajan played really well. I thought we lost it in the first six overs. We lost too many wickets. We can learn a lot from Bhajji and Suchith," he said.
Asked what went wrong for his side, Rohit, who was out for a duck, said, "They (Kings XI) bowled steady, they stuck to their plan. Nothing extraordinary. We played some stupid shots in the chase. We have some work to be done. Credit to Kings XI Punjab for winning this game.
"I think our bowlers did a pretty good job in the end, Suyal bowled well at the death. Malinga, as always, did the job for us. We need to see what we can do as a bowling unit. We feel we can use Malinga in the middle. Their middle order is strong with Maxwell, Miller and Bailey coming in. You always want your best bowler to bowl to the best batsmen," he said.
