Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya once again came under the scanner for his on-field decisions during the Indian Premier League match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. It was a run-fest at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad as the hosts posted a record-breaking 277/3 – the highest total in the history of IPL – on the scoreboard after Hardik asked them to bat first.
SRH batters Heinrich Klaasen (80*), Abhishek Sharma (63) and Travis Head (62) unleashed carnage on the Mumbai Indians bowlers who looked clueless on a flat batting deck.
Meanwhile, Hardik once again used Jasprit Bumrah as the first bowling change in the powerplay. A move which attracted criticism from various quarters as Head had already gotteen well set in the middle by that time.
He also turned a bit defensive when SRH batters were smashing the MI bowlers all around the park.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan took to X and criticised Pandya’s ordinary captaincy and keeping Bumrah away from attack when things were not going in MI’s favour.
“The captaincy of Hardik Pandya has been ordinary to say the least. Keeping Bumrah away for too long when the carnage was on was beyond my understanding,” Pathan wrote.
Bumrah, who claimed three wickets for 14 runs against Gujarat Titans, could not pick up a wicket against SRH but with 36 runs in 4 overs, he was MI’s most economical bowler and the only one who went under 10 runs an over.
Former SRH head coach Tom Moody also slammed Pandya’s decision to keep Bumrah away from the attack.
“Where is Jasprit Bumrah?? Game nearly done and your best bowler has only bowled ONE over! #SRHvMI,” Moody wrote.
Pandya’s homecoming at MI has not turned out as planned for him as they lost their second straight match in the IPL. The Orange Army manhandled the visitors’ bowling attack and posted a mammoth 277/3 – the highest score in IPL history.
Chasing the target, Mumbai batters came out with a purpose and made a match out of what looked like one-way traffic at the innings break. Openers Ishan Kishan (34) and Rohit Sharma (24) set the platform with a quickfire start in the powerplay.
Tilak Varma finished the highest run-getter for the blue outfit as he scored 64 runs off 34 balls while Tim David also fought hard in the hand with his unbeaten 42-run knock but in the end, Mumbai were short by 31 runs.
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