We have to improve our death bowling, says Pandey

Disappointed at his team's bowling at the death overs, Kolkata Knight Riders' Manish Pandey said they needed to improve in this aspect of the game after Mumbai Indians pulled off a thrilling four-wicket win in an Indian Premier League game here.

"Even in the first game (against Gujarat Lions), we struggled with death bowling. I thought we can improve a little more. Two games in a row, and it is high time we start thinking and applying our mind about this in the meeting," said Pandey in his post-match media conference at the Wankhede Stadium.

MI needed 64 in the final 30 balls but pulled off a sensational victory with one ball to spare, by riding on youngsters Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya's counter-attack, after being reduced to 119 for 5 at the beginning of the 17th over.

"If bowlers hit yorkers consistently, it would be obviously difficult for the batsmen. They missed a few, we missed a few. They played very well in the end and we have to work a bit more on death bowling. We shall overcome this," Pandey said last night. "It looked like we might win, but the two batsmen — Hardik (Pandya) and (Nitish) Rana — played really well. We could have bowled with a little more plan. We will bounce back," he said confidently. Pandey felt Pandya is growing slowly and steadily in confidence.

"He is a very good player and coming up to be a very good all-rounder. We have seen how he has batted and finished games for India at number 7. Slowly he has matured as a player. He is gaining in confidence from all these matches."