MI vs SRH: Hardik Pandya pressed and squeezed like a lemon by Irfan Pathan as the latter levels serious allegations
Updated - 04 May 2024, 02:16 PM
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Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan once again targeted Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya for his poor decision-making during his side's 24 loss to KKR.
The Kolkata Knight Riders looked like a much more determined team that played to get their first victory at MI's home in Wankhede stadium in 12 long years. Most of the blame for Mumbai's loss is being directed towards Hardik Pandya for not being able to capitalize after getting off to a very good start in the 1st innings.
Hardik Pandya's move to bring Naman Dhir into the attack proved costly
As KKR batted first in Wankhede, Hardik Pandya and the other MI bowlers did amazingly well to restrict the visitors' run-flow in the powerplay. Kolkata's top and middle order had no answers to the questions asked by Pandya, Nuwan Thusara, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Thusara started the wicket-taking spree by removing Phil Salt in the 4th ball of the 1st over for just 5 runs. In his next over, Thusara claimed the wicket of number 3 batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi for 13, and 4 balls later, he got Shreyas Iyer out for 6 off 4.
Hardik Pandya joined the party and got Sunil Narine with a clean bowled for 8 off 8 while veteran Piyush Chawla caught and bowled danger man Rinku Singh for 9. Kolkata were 57/5 by the 1st ball of the 7th over but Pandya's decision to bring in inexperienced Naman Dhir into the attack gave momentum to Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey who stitched an 83-run partnership.
From being at 57/5, the Knight Riders ended up posting 169 on the board. MI then failed to chase down the total and got all out for 145 within 18.5 overs.
Irfan Pathan expresses disappointment
After the Kolkata Knight Riders registered a dominating 24-run victory at the Wankhede after 12 years, Irfan Pathan launched a scathing attack on Hardik Pandya.
Before his video slamming Pandya went viral, the former India all-rounder had made a series of tweets on X, questioning the Mumbai Indians' skipper for his brain fade moves.
Irfan Pathan exposes Hardik Pandya Captaincy 🗣️-
— 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐢𝐢⁴⁵ (@rushiii_12) May 3, 2024
"Mumbai Indians solid team on paper not managed well by their captain again. This Complete team failure on this loss." pic.twitter.com/oIdW97Chao
Irfan Pathan started off the video by saying that Mumbai's journey has come to an end and regardless of how strong they looked on paper, they weren't managed well. Pathan destroyed Hardik Pandya by stating that the questions and criticism against the latter were right.
"Mumbai Indians' story ends here. This team was so good on paper, but it wasn't managed. The questions that were raised on Hardik Pandya's captaincy were absolutely right. When you've restricted KKR to 57/5, you didn't have to give Naman Dhir three successive overs. You had to bring your main bowlers, and you gave your sixth bowler three overs." - Irfan Pathan said on his latest X video.
Irfan Pathan urges MI to regroup
The best advice that Irfan Pathan gave to the Mumbai Indians team management was to regroup and make the players accept that Hardik Pandya is their captain. The man of the match winner of the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup final claimed that MI did not look united and it is something they should improve going forward.
"Captaincy has a big impact in the game. Mumbai Indians don't look like a united team, and management needs to consider this. Players need to respect and accept the captain, and we didn't see that on-field. They have to improve in that aspect." - Pathan concluded.
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