MI lost to SRH by 6 wickets as Pat Cummins and co. chased down 244-run target.
Ryan Rickelton’s 123* and 43 by Will Jacks, with Hardik Pandya’s 31, were the reasons behind MI’s brilliant score. However, Abhishek Sharma (45) and Travis Head (76) added 129 runs for the first wicket. Though MI clawed back with three wickets, Heinrich Klaasen (65*) and Salil Arora (30* in 10 balls) ensured SRH chased the target in 18.4 overs and 6 wickets in hand.
A bizarre incident occurred during the match, where MI brought in Shardul Thakur as an impact player, but Thakur ended up neither batting nor bowling in the match. Thakur was brought in during the second innings, after the power play had ended; he had no chance to bat. However, the Mumbai cricketer failed to bowl a single over in a game.
Murali Kartik, a former Indian cricketer, claimed he couldn't comprehend MI's decision not to offer Thakur a single over after introducing him.
“I don’t understand it at all. Why did they even bring him in? Maybe they forgot about him. Only god can tell us why this was done,” he said on Cricbuzz.
Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag contended that Thakur is a wicket-taking bowler who should have been given at least one over if nominated as an impact substitute.
“If you have brought him on as an impact sub, then he should have bowled at least one over. He is a wicket-taking bowler. He could have got a wicket somehow, so they should have definitely tried. Only Hardik Pandya can tell us why Shardul Thakur wasn’t bowled because, since he has come, he always takes a wicket no matter how much he gets beaten,” he said on Cricbuzz.
Another former Indian cricketer, Aakash Chopra, asked if this was the first instance where an impact substitute did not get to bat or bowl.
“Has it ever happened that a team got in an Impact Substitute as a bowler and didn’t get him to bowl even a single over? Happened with Shardul tonight,” he wrote on X.