Hardik Pandya ruthlessly reminds Mumbai Indians stars of ‘game awareness’ after Delhi Capitals’ defeat. cricket news

Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya said he wants the batsmen to take risks in the middle overs and claimed that MI will back themselves to chase the score against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday. Was doing. Fraser-McGurk equaled his own record for the fastest half-century in IPL 2024, laying the foundation of a mammoth score with 87 off 27 balls. DC scored 257 runs in 20 overs with cameos from Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs. It looked like Mumbai Indians would always be behind in the chase and Tilak Verma’s valiant effort was insufficient as Delhi won by 10 runs. MI suffered their sixth defeat of the season, putting their playoff ambitions in jeopardy.

Speaking after the match, Pandya said that the game was becoming increasingly close.

“This game is becoming more and more close. Earlier it (difference) used to be a few overs, now it is becoming a few balls. The kind of game and the pressure the bowlers are under, we have prepared ourselves to do that. Have done.” If I had to pick something, we could have taken a few more chances in the middle overs,” Pandya said in a post-match presentation.

Pandya defended the decision to bowl first in Saturday’s loss to DC. Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first as he wanted to know what target they would chase. However, this plan quickly fell apart as DC got off to a great start thanks to Jake Fraser-McGurk.

“The left-hander probably could have chased Axar a bit, that’s something we missed in terms of game awareness,” Pandya said.

Pandya praised Fraser-McGurk’s innings and said he would not have changed anything about the toss.

“The way he (Fraser-McGurk) batted was quite astonishing, he took calculated risks, he executed really well on the field. It shows the fearlessness of the youngsters. (If he did something different in the toss) Actually, not.” ” He added.

Talking about the match, a powerful innings from Fraser-McGurk followed by a supercharged pace attack from Rasikh Dar Salaam, Mukesh Kumar and Khalil Ahmed helped Delhi Capitals (DC) win the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match here. Defeated Mumbai Indians by 10 runs. Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

Rasikh was selected for the home team, coming in as an impact sub and taking 3 for 34 in this high-scoring encounter, while Mukesh also returned with three wickets. For MI, Tilak Verma scored 63 runs, while captain Hardik Pandya scored 46 runs for MI.

Coming to bat first, explosive innings by DC batsmen Fraser-McGurk, Tristan Stubbs and Shai Hope took the team to a huge score of 257/4 against five-time champions Mumbai.

Mumbai Indians will play their next match against LSG on Tuesday at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.