Former Australia white-ball skipper Aaron Finch has observed that Hardik Pandya looks jaded and drained as he sympathised with the Mumbai Indians captain amid their struggles in IPL 2024. Finch, who has been through a similar phase as Australia's captain, revealed that he knows what it's like to be in the situation when nothing seems to be working.
Pandya has been under constant pressure from the outset and has come under fire even more after the Mumbai Indians slid to their 8th defeat in 11 matches. The 30-year-old's struggles with the bat has compounded Mumbai's issues, rendering them to struggle even in routine chases.
Speaking to Star Sports, Finch sees Pandya feeling the pressure noticeably, given his body language and sympathised with the all-rounder as nothing seemed to be going his way.
"He looks flat at the moment, he looks drained. He looks like someone who is feeling the pressure. I feel for him as I know what it feels like to be in that situation. Everything that you try doesn’t seem to work and when the team is not performing well, that’s a really difficult place. It’s one thing when you are not performing, but your team is winning."
"That’s something you take pride in as a captain. But you wear all the responsibilities of your own performance and also of the team and it’s an incredibly hard place to be in, particularly in this competition."
"It’s a beautiful place to bat generally" - Aaron Finch
While the Victorian feels Wankhede's surface is an excellent one to bat on, he agreed it was unusually two-paced.
"You would expect them to chase 170 when dew is forming in at the Wankhede. It’s a beautiful place to bat generally. Yes it was a bit uncharacteristic in the way it turned a bit more, and was a little bit more two paced than what we have seen in the past."
Although Mumbai Indians are alive mathematically, they need plenty of things to go their way to reach the playoffs.
