The Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya couldn’t accelerate his innings like other batters in the team.
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra recently backed Hardik Pandya despite his slow innings during Mumbai Indians’ recently concluded match against Delhi Capitals. The teams clashed for the 20th match of IPL 2024 and Mumbai Indians marked their first victory of the season under the leadership of their new captain.
In the game, Mumbai Indians batted first and opening batters Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan accelerated the innings in the powerplay, playing cameos of 49 and 42 runs respectively.
While walking in at number 4 after back to back dismissals, the Indian all-rounder couldn’t accelerate his innings like other batters in the team. Pandya scored 39 runs off 33 deliveries with a strike rate of 118.18. Mumbai Indians gave Delhi Capitals a high target of 234 runs afte Caribbean all-rounder Romario Shepherd scored 32 runs in the final over against Anrich Nortje.
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Chopra analyzed Mumbai Indians skipper’s slow innings. While calling it the need of the hour, the former cricketer turned commentator backed Hardik Pandya for handling the situation well and managing the team’s runs in the middle order.
Chopra said, “The wheels got stuck in the middle. Suddenly it seemed like it wouldn’t work out because Tilak Varma also got out. Ishan Kishan had also gotten out after Rohit Sharma. They were 121/4 at one stage. The team was stuck and they needed a good partnership there.”
Aakash Chopra lauded Pandya for taking the game deep with Tim David, continuously rotating the strike and setting themselves in the game to score runs at the end in the death overs.
“Hardik Pandya was there with Tim David. Hardik Pandya did play slow for sure but it was required at that stage because if one more wicket had fallen, the game was done and dusted. Then Mohammad Nabi would have had to come up in the order. However, they played there and took the game deeper”, added Aakash Chopra.
Mumbai Indians defeated Delhi Capitals by 29 runs and marked their first victory under the leadership of Hardik Pandya who recently replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of the five time title winners. MI will play the next match of IPL 2024 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium on 11th April.
