'It’s going to leave a hole': Mark Boucher laments injuries after Mumbai Indians IPL exit

On Friday, Mumbai Indians suffered a crushing loss at the hands of Gujarat Titans in MI vs GT Qualifier 1 of IPL 2023. Following the loss, MI coach Mark Boucher reflected on the loss and highlighted major missings due to injuries as one of the prime reasons behind the team's eventual elimination. Mumbai Indians suffered a huge setback before the season in the form of Jasprit Bumrah and later found itself in jeopardy as Jofra Archer departed midway through the tournament. 

Shubman Gill's blistering knock of 129 turned out to be the differentiator in yesterday's Qualifier 2 between Mumbai Indians and Gujrat Titans. Ahead of the match, the 5-time winners of the competition, Mumbai Indians, were the favorites to make it into the finals, however, Gujarat Titans put on a mammoth 233 on the board and half the job was done there. The remaining half was completed by Mohit Sharma and Rashid Khan, as GT secured a 62-run win. 

Also Read: Team India Have Found 2 Players Who Will 'repeat Story Of Jasprit Bumrah & Hardik Pandya'

Mark Boucher laments injuries after Mumbai Indians IPL exit

Following the match in hindsight, Mumbai Indians coach Mark Boucher expressed his views on the loss. According to him, the substitute players gave their best but could not fill the void of injury-laden players seemingly, Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer. “If you are losing out on your quality players, yes it’s going to leave a hole,” Boucher told reporters after his team’s 62-run hammering.

“Not to put any blame on anyone, those things happen in sports, injuries happen in sports and you’ve got to deal with it.” He added: “I thought that the guys that we brought in, they did their best in a situation where they probably weren’t selected upfront.”

“Hopefully the guys can get over the injuries. If they can’t, then we’ve got to look other places,” said Boucher.

But he declined to point to individual names.

“There are so many things that we can talk about but for me to open up a can of worms now would be stupid,” he said.

“I think it’s time to just sit back, reflect a bit, take the emotion out of it and make some good, sound cricketing decisions once everything is calmed down and once we understand the future of certain individuals and where they are from a fitness perspective.”

“To get to the playoffs is a good achievement,” said Boucher. “Obviously disappointed about tonight’s result but I thought we fought right the way till the end.”

Results in the Twenty20 tournament “can go either way”, he added. “So it’s quite a stressful competition.”