Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya has been under scrutiny after his team suffered two consecutive defeats in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The latest defeat was against SunRisers Hyderabad, losing the match by 31 runs.
Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack was thrashed by Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klassen and Aiden Markram. The middle-order duo of Klassen and Markram had no mercy on visitors’ bowlers as they formed an 116-run partnership to help SRH set a record IPL total of 277/3. The record was previously held by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, posting 263/5 against Pune Warriors in 2013.
Hardik Pandya was heavily criticised for his poor captaincy, especially for not bringing Jasprit Bumrah into attack when Heinrich Klassen and Aiden Markram were unleashing their firepower.
‘What Is So Funny?’: Sports Tak Slams Hardik Pandya
The panellists of Sports Tak were clearly unhappy with Hardik Pandya’s on-field antics, especially failing to tackle the situation of the game and feels that he would become ‘silly’ captain to the players in the team after one point of time.
“Laughing and smiling after defeat and being hit for a six is not good. After one point of time you will look silly, not for the fans but for the players in your team.” Sports Tak panelists said.
In another viral video, another Sports Tak journalist Vikrant Gupta believes that Hardik Pandya was the main reason behind Mumbai Indians’ defeat against SunRisers Hyderabad.
“Tilak Verma, Rohit Sharma, Tim David and Naman Dir have all put their efforts, but Hardik Pandya didn’t step up when the team needed him the most. He could’ve easily scored 50 from 20 balls in the high-scoring match.” he said.
Hardik Pandya failed to deliver her best in a crucial situation as he scored just 24 runs off 20 balls at a strike rate of 120. While his fellow batters were playing at a strike between 190 and 200.
Apart from bat, Pandya had a forgettable outing with the ball as he conceded 46 runs while taking a wicket with an economy rate of 11.50. Overall, Pandya had a match to forget as a player as well as a captain. Following Mumbai Indians’ second defeat on the trot, Hardik Pandya’s captaincy called into question as many believe that it was a blunder to hand over the leadership to the all-rounder.
