Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians suffered a crushing 20-run defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. Not only did MI fail to chase down a total of 207 in their quota of 20 overs, but Hardik Pandya’s performance as captain and as a bowler was subsequently questioned by many former cricketers. Notably, Pandya took over the captaincy of Mumbai Indians from Rohit Sharma this season and has struggled to assert his authority in the tournament ever since.
Known for his all-round ability, Pandya bowled 3 overs against CSK, giving away 43 runs at an economy of 14.33 and taking 2 crucial wickets of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Daryl Mitchell. However, the MI skipper proved costly in the final over of the match when he was outwitted by his idol, MS Dhoni, who hit three consecutive sixes to take CSK past the 200-run mark.
Sunil Gavaskar, Kevin Pietersen slam Hardik Pandya’s ‘ordinary captaincy’:
In an interaction with Star Sports during the mid-innings break, Sunil Gavaskar said, “Probably the worst kind of bowling that I’ve seen for a long, long time. It almost looks like I’ve had this embrace with my hero. I’ve got the kind of deliveries that he’s gonna hit for sixes. One six is fine. The next one is a length ball when you know this batter is hunting for a length ball that he wants to hit. Third ball is again a full toss on the legs when you know he [Dhoni] is looking for a six,”
“Oh, absolutely ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy. They should have been restricted despite the fact that Ruturaj Gaikwad had batted so well along with Shivam Dube. I do believe that they should have been restricted to 185-190” the former Indian batter added.
Former English batter Kevin Pietersen also chimed into the discussion noting that everything that is happening around the game is affecting the Mumbai Indians skipper too much. He said, “If what’s happening to Hardik Pandya, the boos that we’ve just been hearing now and how happy they are to see the CSK former captain, the lion (MS Dhoni) smacking him all over the park, it hurts you because he has emotion and he’s an Indian player. And he doesn’t want to be treated like this. So when this is happening, it’s affecting him. It’s affecting his cricket and something needs to happen,”
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Published: 15 Apr 2024, 10:26 AM IST