After any loss, it’s a tough time for any team. The same was the case with Mumbai Indians, who ended up flopping under new captain Hardik Pandya. The five-time champions lost to the Gujarat Titans, Pandya’s former team, on Sunday. Hardik Pandya has been under close scrutiny ever since he replaced Rohit Sharma as captain. He himself must have felt that there were more stares than in previous years.
The internet went into overdrive after Mumbai Indians lost to Gujarat Titans. A video has gone viral on social media in which Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are seen discussing a certain thing. After Pandya walked away, Rohit and Bumrah continued chatting. This sparked intense speculation.
When you hire Chapri as captain and have leaders like Rohit and Bumrah, this is bound to happen! Look at his attitude, captain, just do as I say! Bumrah says to Rohit, he doesn’t listen at all, what should I do? Rohit nods and does what he wants! #MIVsGT #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/wTTQqeQ1bc
— Sushant Kumar Nahak (@sushantkoko) March 24, 2024
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard favors Hardik Pandya over Jasprit Bumrah to start bowling , and said the captain’s decision to bat at No. 7 in the IPL opener against Gujarat Titans was a “collective decision”.
On Sunday, when MI looked set to win, they lost their first match by six runs following a puzzling batting strategy.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bowl first and surprisingly Hardik bowled to his former team.
“As a team, you have to plan and decide what you want to do. Hardik (Pandya) has also used the new ball for Gujarat in the last few years. He has swung the new ball and bowled it well, which is not Nothing new. For us.
“We tried to take advantage of the swing of the new ball. When I look at the decision that was made, there was nothing wrong with it and we moved on,” Pollard said at the post-match press conference.
When the discussion turned to the logic behind Hardik’s batting at No. 7, Pollard said one cannot blame the captain for the decision.
“There was no decision made completely autonomously, so we can’t say it was his decision. As a team, we have plans; we talk about setting up entry points for the batsmen. The top-order batting goes deep into the game and we also have two power hitters. The golfer is on the back end.
“Typically, if you look at it over time, Tim (David) has done it for us and Hardik has done it over the years.
“So, at any time, either one of them could be back in that situation. That didn’t happen tonight, so there will probably be discussions about who should go early.
“But all these things are in hindsight and as a team we make decisions so let’s stop ‘Hardik made a decision, Hardik did this, Hardik did that’. We are a team .We took the decision collectively,” the West Indian said.
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