Hardik Pandya had a poor day in the office as he conceded 2-43 with the ball and was dismissed for just 2 runs while batting.
After a defeat to their arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians’ performance is under the scanner once again. In the first innings, MI allowed CSK to reach 206-4 in their 20 overs, conceding 26 runs in the final over. Mumbai Indians never looked ahead in the chase as Chennai found ways to keep themselves in the game. A few economical overs in Mumbai’s innings were enough for Chennai to take the upper hand and they went on to win the game by 20 runs despite a valiant hundred by Rohit Sharma.
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya didn’t have a good day in the office. Pandya conceded 2-43 in 3 overs, which included a 26-run final over. MS Dhoni took Pandya to the sword and smashed three consecutive sixes off his bowling. This also proved to be the difference in the end. Hardik didn’t have a great day with the bat as well as he was dismissed for just 2 runs off 6 balls.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Hardik Pandya for his choice of bowling in the final over. While speaking to Star Sports during the innings break, Gavaskar labelled Hardik’s bowling and captaincy as ‘ordinary.’
“Probably the worst kind of bowling that I’ve seen for a long, long time. It almost looks like I’ve had this embrace with my hero. I’ve got the kind of deliveries that he’s gonna hit for sixes. One six is fine. The next one is a length ball when you know this batter is hunting for a length ball that he wants to hit. Third ball is again a full toss on the legs when you know he (Dhoni) is looking for a six,” Gavaskar slammed Hardik Pandya.
“Oh, absolutely ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy. They should have been restricted despite the fact that Ruturaj Gaikwad had batted so well along with Shivam Dube. I do believe that they should have been restricted to 185-190,” the former India opener added.
Hardik Pandya’s figures were decent before those three sixes by Dhoni. In his previous over, which was the 16th over of the innings, he conceded just two runs. But the final over exploits by MS Dhoni ruined his figures and took the match away from MI’s grasp.
Also read: ‘Same template as Kohli’: Fans divided on Rohit Sharma’s ton as MI lose to CSK
With this win, Chennai Super Kings have moved to third spot in the points table with 4 wins in 6 games. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians suffered its fourth defeat of the season and have slipped to eighth position in the points table.
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