Mumbai Indians head coach Lisa Keightley felt the score of 154 was definitely under par given the conditions at the DY Patil Stadium in their heartbreaking opening match defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Women's Premier League (WPL).
Keightley was speaking to the media after the humdinger of a loss by three wickets against RCB spurred by Nadine de Klerk's last over blitz.
"It was definitely under-par, it looked hard to bat early on. Lauren Bell bowled extremely well early on in those conditions. To get to the score was good and if we could have got another 10 off the last over, it could've been different. But it was well under-par. The dropped catches really hurt us in the long run," she added.
However, Keightley gave full credit to De Klerk for her incredible batting.
"We only had a small amount of runs on board and to bowl in these sort of conditions withe the dew, I think they did extremely well. But Nadine did extremely well with some clean ball striking. So yes, it's the first game, we fought well, we were competitive and there were parts of the game we could have done well and we did not. We have a chance tomorrow to change things, we know the conditions well and we will go again and hope to get those two points tomorrow," the MI head coach said.
When asked about her impressions of G Kamalini, who opened the batting for the defending champions, Keightley had only good things to say.
"She is an extremely talented batter, left handed and I've seen her in her state-level matches and for her to go there and bat in those conditions, she did very well in her first hit out. We have to see how she goes from here and hopefully she has a great tournament going from strength to strength."
Talking about what sets Kamalini apart, Keightley felt it was her well-rounded ability against both spin and seam.
"It's really exciting, she plays spin and seam really well. Her game is very sound. We saw her dominate the spin and seam. It's a big challenge for her to grow and build on that potential but she is going to face world class bowlers opening the batting in this competition, so she is going to get better and better with teams bowling more at her. We have measured her up against Shabnim and Milly Illingworth. So, quick bowlers are training her to prepare against new ball bowlers, whoever comes up against her," Keightley explained.
"I think she's a great kid and she's really good around the group. She's got that carefree attitude of a 17-year-old and that's lovely to see."
