Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan slammed Hardik Pandya’s mundane batting display against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday at MI suffered a 31-run loss. MI went on to concede 277 runs, which is the highest total in the IPL history.
Despite conceding a gargantuan total, MI stayed in the contest as Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan provided a brisk start, adding 50 runs in the first three overs. Tilak Varma scored 64 runs off just 34 balls but Pandya could not hit the ground running.
The MI skipper trudged to 24 runs off 20 balls but he failed to change gears. Thus, he scored his runs at a strike rate of 120 and it was not good enough as they were chasing a big score of 278. Pandya failed to find his timing and could not get the job done for his team.
“If the whole team is playing with the strike of 200, Captain can’t bat with the batting strike rate of 120,” wrote Irfan Pathan on X.
Barring Pandya, all of Mumbai Indians’ batters scored their runs at a strike rate of more than 185.
On the other hand, Pandya was also questioned for his captaincy. Pandya didn’t give Bumrah his second spell when Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were going all guns blazing.
Bumrah was re-introduced into the attack in the 13th over but a lot of cricket boffins reckon it was too late by then as Head and Sharma had done the damage. The gun fast bowler went wicketless in his four-over spell and conceded 36 runs.
Mumbai Indians have now lost both of their opening matches and will look to bounce back strongly. MI will next face Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 1st April.
