Currently in abysmal form, Mumbai Indians (MI) once again crashed to a defeat on Saturday, losing by 18 runs vs Lucknow Super Giants at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The franchise are currently bottom of the 10-team table and haven't yet registered a win in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season. Despite their poor run of form, the Rohit Sharma-led side have received unlikely support from former player Lasith Malinga. The legendary pacer, currently Rajasthan Royals' bowling coach, took to Twitter to lend his support to the franchise and backed them for "a strong finish to the season".
"@mipaltan has always been a team of comebacks. Whether or not they get through to the playoffs this year, expect them to have a strong finish to the season", he wrote.
"Their core group of players and the support staff definitely have the quality to pull them back", he further added.
Chasing a target of 200 runs, MI could only reach 181 for nine in 20 overs against Lucknow. Suryakumar Yadav top-scored for the franchise with a knock of 37 runs off 27 balls.
Avesh Khan was in fiery form for LSG and took three wickets in four overs, leaking 30 runs. He accounted for the dismissals of Rohit, Dewald Brevis and Fabian Allen.
Initially an unbeaten knock of 103 runs off 60 balls by KL Rahul had helped LSG post 199 for four in 20 overs, setting a target of 200 runs.