Ahead of the start of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021), Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond had made it clear that Hardik Pandya would play as an all-rounder for the five-time champions in the tournament that kick-started on Friday (April 9).
But to the surprise of everyone, Pandya played only as a batsman in the IPL 2021 opener against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
With just 160 to defend in the season opener against RCB, the five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) failed to defend the total and suffered a 2-wicket loss. It seemed that the franchise missed their sixth bowler against the RCB as the 27-year-old stayed away from any sort of bowling action.
In the nail-biting IPL 14 encounter, Pandya had also surprised all with his action of using underarm throws while fielding at the boundary ropes and even it led to a relay fielding in the game on Friday.
Revealing the reason why Hardik did not bowl, the MI opener Chris Lynn said shoulder discomfort may have forced the all-rounder to stay away from bowling against the RCB.
Lynn said during a virtual press conference on Friday, “I’m not a hundred percent sure but it’s a bit of a shoulder niggle. I am not sure though. I think Hardik Pandya, not bowling is maybe more precautionary. He’s played a fair bit of cricket leading up to this tournament.”
He added, “We have 14 games as well so you do not want to throw all your eggs into one basket and risk the injury if it is a shoulder. So you don’t want to throw your eggs in one basket and risk injury. The physios, support staff, and the medical team will treat Hardik if there is something wrong there.”
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The Australian hard-hitter also said Pandya is a huge factor for the MI and hopes he would return as an all-rounder as soon as possible in the ongoing IPL 14.
He added, “He is a huge factor with the bat but if he gets bowling, then it adds another dimension to our team. We might have been missing the sixth bowler tonight against RCB, but it's the early stages in the tournament, there is a lot of cricket to come and we have to adapt to this wicket, we have five games here, so the next four games so it is going to be tricky. I do believe if Hardik is bowling then it brings out confidence in his batting as well. So fingers crossed we’ll see him with the ball sooner rather than later,”
Defending 160, Jasprit Bumrah bowled just one over at the start and then he came onto bowl after the 10 overs mark and it might have played a role in the defending champions’ defeat in the IPL opener.
On being asked whether Bumrah could have come onto bowl a bit earlier, Lynn noted: “It is a tricky one. Rohit has been a very successful captain so you have to back the captain and the moves he makes. At that stage, we needed a wicket and overall, we were off our game just a little bit. I think Bumrah is excellent in his death bowling so Rohit maybe wanted to keep his overs for the back end. As we found from our batting innings, it got really tough at the back end.”
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He added, “So to have someone like Bumrah at the death, it can go either way but as a batter, if you know Bumrah has three left in the latter half of the innings, it is mentally quite tough as well. There is a method to Rohit's madness but at the end, it was just a skill error from all of us.”
On Rohit Sharma’s run-out featuring Lynn himself, the Australian cricketer said: “Look, I was a bit nervous as it was my first game for Mumbai and it was the first time I batted with Rohit as well. Look, it happens in the game of cricket as well, I thought there was a run and then not a run. If I had been able to run past him and sacrifice my wicket, I would have done that.”
He added, “Obviously, it was not the case, it happens in the game of cricket. It is not ideal running out your captain in your first. My first game, could be my last game, who knows? He was striking the ball well, we were 10-15 runs short, there were plenty of factors in the game, not just the run-out.”
Lynn also made it clear that MI wouldn’t make the lack of practice as an excuse for the loss against RCB in the IPL 2021 opener in Chennai, as the side could not practice for two days with Mumbai Indians' scout and wicket-keeping consultant Kiran More, testing positive for COVID-19.
He signed off by saying, “Look, you can make up as many excuses as you want, but as players, over the years we have played enough cricket, we cannot use that as an excuse. In the group, we said that we would not use this as an excuse. We have got a great bunch of guys, it is tricky for different people in different areas as well. This group is very mentally strong and we do not want to give any excuses, we cannot control a lot of things but we can control the attitude, for us it is a no-excuse policy.”
(With ANI Inputs)
