DC vs MI: Hardik Pandya blasts Tilak Varma for lack of game awareness after loss to Delhi Capitals

Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) faced off against the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) in the 43rd match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Saturday, April 27, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Mumbai Indians elected to bowl first in the match and the decision heavily backfired as DC registered their highest-ever IPL total - 257/4 with the top-scorer for the team being Jake Fraser-McGurk (84). For MI, Mohammad Nabi, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah and Luke Wood picked up one wicket each.

Chasing the target, Mumbai Indians finished with 247 for 9 and lost the match by 10 runs. Tilak Varma (63) showed a great fight with his half-century but didn't get much support which resulted in Mumbai Indians losing yet another match.

Speaking at the toss, Hardik Pandya said that they backed them to chase the target considering the ongoing trend in IPL 2024. Hardik Pandya said:

"This game is becoming more and more closer. It (the difference) used to be a couple of overs, now it’s becoming a couple of balls. Because of the kind of games and how the bowlers are under pressure, we backed ourselves to do it."

Hardik Pandya further lashed out at Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera, saying that the duo could have attacked Axar Patel more in the middle over. Hardik Pandya stated:

"If I had to pick something out, we could have taken a couple of more chances in the middle overs. The left-handers could have probably gone after Axar a little bit, it’s something we missed out in terms of game awareness."

Hardik Pandya also lauded Jake Fraser-McGurk for his stupendous knock and said:

"It was quite amazing the way he (Fraser-McGurk) batted, he took calculated risks, he played the field really well. It shows the fearlessness of youth. (If he would’ve done something different at the toss) Not really."

Previous Meeting Result Between Mumbai Indians And Delhi Capitals In IPL 2024

In the previous match between MI and DC, the Mumbai batting unit showed their true class at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. In the 20th match of IPL 2024 on April 7, Mumbai Indians racked up 234 for 5. The score registered by Mumbai Indians wasn't that big of a total considering the amount of runs being scored in the ongoing edition of IPL. However, the humongous score of 234 was achieved by MI without a single player scoring a fifty.

During the run-chase, Prithvi Shaw provided DC with a great start by smashing a half-century and Tristan Stubbs came with a 25-ball 71 blitzkrieg, but it came too late as DC managed only 205 and lost the match by 29 runs. Also, the Mumbai Indians had won two out of the last three matches between the teams in the previous two editions. In IPL 2023, MI won by 6 wickets against DC and in IPL 2022, they locked horns with each other twice with MI winning one match by 5 wickets and DC registering a 4-wicket win in the other match.