Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan lashed out at Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya for his tactics against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 game. The five-time champions suffered a disappointing loss in their first game of the tournament.
For the most part of the game, Hardik Pandya & Co looked like favourites to win the game as they produced a magnificent performance with both bat and ball. After reducing GT to the total of 168 runs, they were exceptional with the bat.
Rohit Sharma (43) and Dewald Brevis (46) looked in complete control and till the time they were batting it seemed Mumbai would win the game easily. But after both of them got out what caught the attention of many was Hardik Pandya didn’t come to bat himself. He sent Tim David ahead of him, especially with Rashid Khan bowling.
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The move didn’t work as David couldn’t set the set on fire and got out on 11 runs. After that, Tilak Varma played a vital hand of 25 runs but he couldn’t take his team past. In the end, Mumbai needed 19 runs off the last over to win.
Hardik Pandya slammed six on the first ball and then four on the next ball. It seemed that he would take his team home. But he perished on the third ball as Mumbai Indians lost the game. They fell short of 6 runs and faced their first loss of the tournament.
I felt Hardik Pandya maybe didn’t want to face Rashid Khan – Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan talked about the leadership of Hardik Pandya, saying that it seemed the all-rounder didn’t want to face Rashid Khan. He believes that Mumbai missed the trick there. Speaking in a video posted on his Instagram account, he stated:
“When they were chasing, they sent Tim David higher up the order. He sent Tim David when Rashid Khan had an over left. I felt Hardik Pandya maybe didn’t want to face Rashid Khan after having not played cricket for a long time.
“This could be the case. I won’t agree with the fact that there was an experienced Indian batter sitting in the dressing room and sending an overseas player under pressure against Rashid. They missed a trick there.”