Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra feels Hardik Pandya played a bad shot after he was dismissed against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday. Pandya top-scored for MI with 21-ball 34 but was dismissed while trying to take the attack to Yuzvendra Chahal as the franchise suffered their third loss of the season, losing by six wickets.
The right-hander could not nail his timing and was caught at long-on by substitute Rovman Powell. MI found themselves under the pump at 20-4 with Trent Boult doing the bulk of the damage, picking three wickets. However, Pandya steadied the ship with Tilak Varma, adding 56 but got out at the wrong time.
Varma scored 32 runs but none of the other MI batters could even go past the 20-run mark as they managed only 125-9 after being put into bat by Sanju Samson.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya stitched together a good partnership. If they had played a little while longer, a lot of life would have been left in this match. Although it wasn’t a 210-run pitch, it was a 160 to 170-run one. There would have been a fight at that score and you could have even won the match,” he elaborated.
“Hardik was batting well and counterattacked a little. The only way to win the public’s love is by scoring runs, taking wickets, and making the team win. If he does that job, nothing succeeds like success, and the platform was absolutely set for that. Four players had gotten out for 20 and you were batting very well. He played a bad shot,” the former India opener added.
Chopra feels the timing of Pandya’s aggressive shot was not on as it was only the 10th over of the innings.
“You can call it an error of judgment because that shot was not on. It was just the third ball of the 10th over and even if he had hit Yuzi Chahal for a six, things wouldn’t have changed. However, he got out and Tilak Varma also got out,” he stated.
On the other hand, Akash Madhwal was the pick of the MI bowlers, returning with figures of 3-20 in his quota of four overs. The reputed commentator said Madhwal was the only shining star for MI.
“Mumbai were expecting wickets from Bumrah but they didn’t get them. He was bowling okay but didn’t get wickets. Akash Madhwal was the only shining star but Mumbai looked like struggling slightly apart from that. It won’t be easy to stage a turnaround from here,” he said.
Mumbai Indians will next take on Delhi Capitals on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium.
