Former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma was spotted instructing his successor Hardik Pandya to field near the boundary line during the IPL 2024 match against SunRisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday, March 28.
Mumbai Indians had a forgettable outing as they suffered a second consecutive defeat of the IPL 2024 against SunRisers Hyderabad. There were heavy criticisms against Hardik Pandya for his field settings and bowlers rotation after Heinrich Klaseen (80*) and Aiden Markram (42*) unleashed their firepower in the middle-order.
Hardik Pandya seemingly took help from predecessor Rohit Sharma to get the field settings right to end the carnage between SRH middle-order pair. In a viral video, Former Mumbai Indians skipper pointed towards the boundary and directed Hardik Pandya to go there, which he promptly did it.
In the last match against Gujarat Titans, Hardik Pandya received a backlash from Mumbai Indians fans for constantly changing Rohit Sharma's fielding positions. The 30-year-old has been under the heavy scrutiny ever since he took over the leadership reins of the team from Rohit Sharma.
Hardik Pandya received hostile receptions from the crowd in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad and being hurled with abuses on social media just for replacing Rohit Sharma as a captain.
'We have a young bowling attack and we will learn': Hardik Pandya
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya lauded SunRisers Hyderabad batters for playing brilliantly, adding that the pitch was bit too batting friendly. He backed the young bowling unit to bounce from forgettable outing.
"Wicket was good, 277 no matter how bad or good you bowl, if the opposition has to score that much, they have batted well. They (the bowlers) were good, it was tough out there, almost 500 runs were scored and the wicket was helping the batters, we could have done a few things here and there." All-rounder said.
"But having said that, we have a young bowling attack and we will learn. If the ball goes this many times into the crowd, you will need time to get the overs done." he added.
Mumbai Indians will play their home match of IPL 2024 against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on April 1.
