Irfan Pathan took a fresh dig at Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya after MI suffered their 7th loss in 10 games in the ongoing IPL 2024, this time to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 30.
This match was played in Lucknow and KL Rahul, the home team captain won the toss and chose to bowl first. The LSG bowlers gave their team a rollicking start as MI was reduced to 27/4 in the first 6 overs. Rohit Sharma (4), Suryakumar Yadav (10), Tilak Varma (7), and Hardik Pandya (0) were all sent back before the powerplay was over.
Ishan Kishan was the next man out for 32 runs with MI on 80/5 in 14 overs. It was only because of a strong finish by Nehal Wadhera (46) and Tim David (35*) that MI managed to post 144/7 in 20 overs. Mohsin Khan stood out with figures of 2/36 for LSG.
In reply, Arshin Kulkarni, making his IPL debut, was dismissed off the first ball he played. KL Rahul (28) and Marcus Stoinis, then steadied the ship, before Rahul got out against the run of play.
But Stoinis (62) and assistance by Deepak Hooda (18) and Nicholas Pooran (14*) helped LSG chase down the target in 19.2 overs with 4 wickets to spare. MI captain Hardik Pandya picked 2/26 in his 4 overs.
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With this win, LSG moved to the third spot in the points table with 6 wins in 10 matches and 12 points. But MI remained at no.9 spot with 7 losses in 10 games and 6 points to their name.
Reacting to yet another listless performance by Mumbai Indians, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan took a dig at captain Hardik Pandya for the mistakes he made while leading the five-time champions.
He posted: “The team Mumbai Indians that qualified last year didn’t have Jasprit Bumrah but this season they had his services. Still they are in this situation. Purely because the team wasn’t managed well on the ground. Too many mistakes by their captain Hardik Pandya. It’s the truth.”
MI will next play KKR at home on Friday, May 3rd, while LSG will host KKR on Sunday, May 5 in the second match of the doubleheader.
