Boundaries in last overs did us in: Jayawardene

MUMBAI: Conceding too many boundaries towards the fag end of Tuesdays's IPL match against Mumbai Indians resulted in the team's defeat, Kings XI Punjab captain Mahela Jayawardene said.

Defending 163 in Tuesday's Indian Premier League match, the Punjab side made a match of it before losing their grip as the home side overwhelmed the total with three balls to spare to eke out a four-wicket victory.

"I felt 170-175 would have been a good score on this wicket. But what we scored was a par score. Our guys bowled really well, but when it came to crunch overs we lost our way and conceded crucial boundaries in the last two overs," said the Sri Lankan.

The loss was the visiting team's sixth in seven matches but Jayawardene has still not lost hopes of qualifying for the semifinals.

"We have not given it up. It's still open. No point thinking we cannot qualify and turn up to play. We are professionals and cannot have an attitude like that," the middle-order batsman said.

Though not concerned about Yuvraj Singh's lack of form, Jayawardene said he needs just one good knock to get it all together.

"He needs to spend more time in the middle. We tried to bring him up the order, but it did not click. He's going through a tough period having come back from injury. But he's that sort of a guy once he gets going he can win lot of matches for us. We have lot of confidence in him," he said.

Jayawardene said rival skipper Sachin Tendulkar used his Lankan compatriot Lasith Malinga very well in the match which became a key factor.

"Lasith came in and picked up wickets. Sachin used him well in the middle to get them. Those guys who had not played him had been told how to play him but it did not work out today," he said.

Malinga grabbed 4 wickets for 22 in four overs to win the man of the match award.

Mumbai Indians director, cricket, T A Sekar termed Malinga's spell today as among the best in the tournament so far.

"Malinga bowled one of the best spells in the tournament. He's one of our main bowlers. We used him judiciously and brought him on whenever we need wickets," he said about Malinga's deadly spell in which he grabbed three wickets in four balls that included the scalp of top scorer Shaun Marsh.

Sekar said the team's superb run in the tournament, that has seen them topping the table with 12 points from seven games, was a result of plenty of planning and hard work.

"We started our preparations on February 22. We played lot of practice matches on hard, central wickets. Sachin joined on March 3 and took personal interest in the players and talked each of them individually. Zaheer (Khan) talked to all the bowlers. It has been a lot of hard work put in by coach Robin Singh," he said.

He also singled out fielding coach Jonty Rhodes of South Africa for the improved standards seen on the field.

"Jonty has worked very hard. We have several good, young fielders in (R) Satish, (Dwayne) Bravo, (Kieron) Pollard and (Saurabh) Tiwary. We are a good fielding side," he said.

Sekar did not agree with the suggestion that the team might be peaking too early.

"It is not a question of peaking too early. When you can win it's better to win rather than lose two matches and say we will peak at the right time," he said.

While conceding that the coming string of away matches could be difficult, Sekar said that wherever Tendulkar played he was bound to get the support of the crowd.

"If you play well anywhere in India you will get support, especially Sachin. Every place in India is his home town," the former India pacer said.