After Mumbai went down to Punjab in a thriller in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Thursday, a visibly upset Shardul Thakur admitted that the players should have applied themselves better.

Chasing a target of 217, Mumbai was cruising at one point in time before it choked and ended up losing by one run. Mumbai’s regular captain Shardul, who has been ruled out of the tournament due to a calf injury, said that in cricket, things shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“Someone told me that cricket is the only game that you can relate to your life. It shows that not all days are the same, and also, you shouldn’t take your game lightly. Once you are in there, you need to make sure that you do whatever is required for the team to cross the line, and that’s where we missed our chances today,” Shardul told The Hindu.

“Better application and better plans would have easily won us the game. If you see, we batted for just 25 overs (sic) and wasted the remaining 25 overs. I don’t see any reason for getting all out for such a low total,” Shardul said, pointing out the fact that Mumbai’s innings folded up in just 26.2 overs.

Lad to lead

In the quarterfinals, Mumbai will take on Karnataka, under the leadership of Siddhesh Lad.