Senior India pacer Mohammad Shami has slammed Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya for demoting himself in the batting order during his team’s opening match of the IPL 2024 season against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on Sunday (March 24).

Chasing 169 to win, the five-time champions were cruising when Rohit Sharma (43) and Dewald Brevis (46) were batting together. However, their dismissals in quick succession triggered a collapse.

Hardik, who walked out at No. 7, smashed Umesh Yadav’s first two balls for a six and a boundary in the final over but he was caught at long-on on the third delivery for 11 as MI’s innings ended at 162/9 in 20 overs.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Shami was asked if Hardik had held himself thinking about the left-right combination.

In reply, Shami said he never understood this approach and mentioned how Pat Cummins also held himself back in the SRH's tournament opener against KKR.

"See all this left-right combination thing is always there. But I don't get it. Even in the KKR vs SRH game we talked about this. About how matured Pat Cummins is. You have to be one step ahead and say I should take this responsibility instead of giving it to someone else," Shami stated.

Shami, who played under Pandya’s captaincy at GT in the last two seasons, also pointed out that the latter used to come in at No. 3 and 4 for Gujarat and questioned why he didn’t do the same for Mumbai as well.

Shami went on to say that Hardik almost looked like a tailender coming at No. 7.

"When it comes to Hardik, you used to bat at No.3 for Gujarat. You have come in at three and No.4. So why do you have difficulty doing it for Mumbai? At No.7, it seems like Hardik is almost a tailender. When you're coming in at No.7, it's like you are bringing in the pressure upon yourself."

"I think if had Hardik had come in earlier, the game wouldn't have gone that far," said Shami.

Mumbai Indians will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday (March 27).