IPL 9: Mumbai Indians performance has been very disappointing so far, says head coach Ricky Ponting

New Delhi: Defending champion Mumbai Indians head coach Ricky Ponting is upset with the way his team has performed thus far in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League.

Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai have won mere one game out of the four they have played so far.

“It’s been very disappointing so far. We have not played to the level the team would have liked. We had a very good win in Kolkata chasing a big score. But otherwise our batting has not been good enough yet. The guys are very aware they have not played as well as they can,” Ponting was quoted as saying by PTI.

The Australian has made it clear that even after a poor start, Mumbai will follow the same strategy of horses for courses. “Rohit is willing to do what is right for the team. We decided last night to bring in Martin Guptill up the order. The captain also had made it clear at the start we will pick teams as per the conditions. Whether he will play at No. 4 throughout, I don’t know,” added Ponting.

Injuries of key players like Lasith Malinga and Lendl Simmons have affected the combination of Mumbai badly. And MI coach also feels the same.

“Things have not gone well for us. Lendl has been our top scorer over the last two seasons. He had a good opening partnership going with Parthiv Patel which gave us a lot of momentum in the back half of the tournament last year and also made things easy for the middle order. Malinga is, if not the best, very close to being the best T20 bowler. That s a big loss. Also Kieron Pollard has come into the tournament on the back of a knee reconstruction. And having not played much cricket for over 4-5 months, he’s probably a bit underdone at the start of the tournament,” said Ponting.

Mumbai will play their fifth match against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday at their home, Wankhede Stadium, which is expected to be a cracker of a game.