Hardik Pandya came under severe criticism for his bizarre tactics after Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered their second successive defeat in the IPL 2024 season against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday (March 27).
After winning the toss, the five-time champions lost the plot in the first innings itself as SRH racked up a gigantic 277/3 on the board - the highest team total in IPL history.
Subsequently, MI skipper received a lot of flak as he delayed pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s introduction into the attack.
After bowling Bumrah in the fourth over of SRH’s innings, Hardik didn’t use him until the 13th over. Meanwhile, the Sunrisers batters made a mockery of the MI bowling attack, piling up 173/3 in just 12 overs.
By the time Bumrah came for his second spell, the hosts were already in a commanding position. However, MI’s strike fast bowler still managed to put a brake on the scoring rate, conceding 36 runs from his four overs in a high-scoring affair on a flat pitch.
Hardik Pandya’s move to hold back Jasprit Bumrah also left Australia’s star batter Steve Smith a bit perplexed.
“I think they missed a trick in bringing Bumrah back in the 13th over. When the ball’s going around like that, you’ve just got to bring your best bowler back earlier than you would’ve liked. It’s just about adapting on the go. I would’ve bowled Bumrah out by the 15-16th over to try to get some wickets,” said Smith on Star Sports after the match.
Smith highlighted the importance of taking wickets to stem the flow of runs, and for that, Bumrah needed to be brought in much earlier.
“Once you get some wickets, you slow the run-rate down anyway. If these guys are batting at the end, it doesn’t matter who is bowling. We saw that in the last two overs where he still got smacked. So if he came back earlier and took some risks, things could have been really different. They got 277, they could’ve been down to 250 and they might’ve chased those down. I was just perplexed that Bumrah had bowled just 1 over up until the 13th over,” he added.
In response, Mumbai Indians put up a valiant effort, scoring 246/5 in their allotted 20 overs. Tilak Varma led the charge with a dazzling 64 off just 34 balls, while Tim David contributed an unbeaten 42 off 22 deliveries to keep MI in the contest.
However, their efforts went in vain as the Hardik Pandya-led side lost the match by a big margin of 31 runs. They are currently languishing at the ninth spot on the points table, featuring 10 teams.
Mumbai Indians will next face Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday (April 1).
