IPL 2020 Final | Victory in final today was culmination of all hard work, expresses Mahela Jayawardene
Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene heaped praise on the MI players, who according to him word exceptionally hard during the off-season, and revealed that title number five was a culmination of all hard work that’s been put in. Jayawardene singled out MI’s preparation as the key to success.
A defeat in the very first game of the season raised doubts over Mumbai Indians’ supposed invincibility but the side, led by Rohit Sharma, quashed all doubts across the 16 games to prove to the world why they’re the most successful team in the competition’s history. The defending champions mauled teams left, right and centre throughout the group stages and pulled off an encore in the final today in Dubai, as they ripped to shreds a nervous Delhi outfit. Despite losing the toss, Mumbai restricted Delhi to just 156, before chasing down the total with 8 balls to spare to assert their authority.
It is this dominance that has seen people speak about MI of 2020 as the best side in IPL history. One man partly responsible for this utter dominance has been head coach Mahela Jayawardene, and speaking in the post match presentation, the Sri Lankan revealed that the whole campaign was a collective team effort. Jayawardene, who has now delivered Mumbai three titles in four years, revealed the victory today was a culmination of all hard work put in by everyone involved with the franchise.
“Credit to the management who bought into our ideas and that helped create history today. It's all about helping the team preparation-wise and explain their roles to them. We have a good leadership group out there, and a great support staff who have helped them out. The boys have seen my not-so-soft side, but the group has worked off-season, and today is the culmination of all of the hard work,” Jayawardene said in the post-match presentation.
Mumbai played the entirety of IPL 2020 like a well-drilled, well-organized franchise and Jayawardene, speaking of the team’s success, revealed that the pre-tournament preparation played a key hand in their dominance. The 43-year-old also stated that he always knew of the devastating power-hitting strength that rested within the team’s ranks.
“We had a great preparation, and we tried to manage them well and ensure they didn't overdo or underdo any of the work. Big-hitting has been in MI's DNA for a long time. We have tried to bring in the touch play a little bit to balance it out.”
It was Jayawardene vs Ponting on the night once again but, unlike 2007, it was the Sri Lankan who came out on top on the day. The MI head coach, nevertheless, showed great sportsmanship and congratulated Ricky Ponting for the effort he’s put in to make Delhi into genuine title-contenders.
“It was a tough tournament. There were a lot of superstitions about odd years. I have to congratulate Ricky and his team, they have had a great season and they were a tough opponent today.”
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