Former Indian all-rounder turned cricket commentator Irfan Pathan criticized Mumbai Indians' captain Hardik Pandya's batting approach during the team's 278-run chase in IPL 2024 match against SunRisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday, March 27.
MI suffered 31-run defeat to SRH in their second match of the ongoing IPL season. With a target of 278, Mumbai Indians were restricted to 246/5 by SunRisers Hyderabad's bowling attack. Hardik Pandya faced flak from fans and experts for his lacklustre approach in his batting, scoring just 24 off 20 balls while chasing a hefty target.
Taking to his X handle (formerly Twitter), Irfan Pathan stated that Hardik Pandya cannot bat at a strike rate of 120 when other batters were unleashing their firepower and batting at a strike rate of over.
"If the whole team is playing with the strike of 200, Captain can’t bat with the batting strike rate of 120."
In the earlier tweet, the former Indian all-rounder slammed Hardik Pandya's captaincy, especially keeping Jasprit Bumrah away from bowling when things weren't working in their favour after Heinrich Klaseen and Aiden Markram unleash their carnage in the middle-order.
"The captaincy of Hardik Pandya has been ordinary to say the least. Keeping Bumrah away for too long when the carnage was on was beyond my understanding." Irfan Pathan wrote on X.
Hardik Pandya failed to deliver his best with the ball as he picked only one wicket while conceding 46 runs with an economy rate of 11.50 in his quote of four overs. The Mumbai Indians skipper has been receiving heavy criticism for not utilizing Jasprit Bumrah in the middle overs and bringing a spinner into the attack in the final over of the innings.
Heinrich Klaseen (80*) and Aiden Markram (42*) had no mercy on Mumbai Indians' bowling attack as they unleash their firepower and helped SunRisers Hyderabad post a record-breaking total of 277/3 in 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians are on two-match losing streak
Mumbai Indians defeat against SunRisers Hyderabad was their second consecutive loss of the tournament. With a target of 278, the visitors were restricted to 246/5 by SRH bowlers despite brilliant performances Tilak Verma (64) and Tim David (42*).
Ishan Kishan and Naman Dir made their contributions with quickfire knocks of 34 and 30, respectively. Five out of seven Mumbai Indians' batters were playing at a strike rate of over 200 over. Only skipper Hardik Pandya played below the strike rate of 150.
Mumbai Indians lost to Gujarat Titans in their opening match of the tournament. The five-time IPL champions were chasing the target of 169 but they fell seven runs short of achieving it.
Mumbai Indians will play their third match against Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 1, Monday.
