Mohammad Nabi buries Hardik Pandya with latest Instagram rant

Are the cracks now widening up inside the Mumbai Indians dressing room? If anyone doesn't think so, then they must take a look at MI's Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi's latest Instagram story, which was uploaded less than 3 hours ago. Nabi actually reshared a fan's post on the all-rounder getting limited chances to bat and bowl for the franchise in IPL 2024. 

The fan's story came after MI skipper Hardik Pandya did not allow Mohammad Nabi to bowl even a single over in the 2nd innings when they were defending a total of 193 in Mullanpur.

Although Mumbai went on to win their 3rd match of the season against Punjab Kings, it will be fair to say that Nabi is frustrated with the lack of opportunities. "Some of your captain's decisions are very strange and surprise people!? Nabi didn't bowl today!" - the fan wrote. 

Mohammad Nabi's bowling stats suggest that he should be bowling more often 

Mohammad Nabi has bowled just 6 overs from the 4 matches that he has played against Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Punjab. On his MI debut against DC, Nabi bowled two overs at an economy rate of 8.50. In the game against RCB where MI registered their 2nd victory of IPL 2024, the former Afghanistan captain had bowled just the first over of the match and gave away just 7 runs. Against the CSK, Nabi bowled 3 overs at a very good economy rate of 6.33 and last night he wasn't even called up for a single over.

If an economy rate of 7.17 is not good enough for Hardik Pandya and his team, then god knows what else does the Mumbai Indians team management needs Mohammad Nabi to do. In certain matches where MI bowlers, except Jasprit Bumrah, have leaked a lot of runs, Nabi could have been the one to stop the flow of runs and provided an antidote for his team.  

As a matter of fact, Mohammad Nabi has an IPL career economy rate of just 7.14, which is very good in the format that is regarded as a batter's game. And Nabi getting less game time in Mumbai Indians is nothing new. The situation was quite similar for him in the previous seasons as well. The highest number of games that he has played in a season is 8 games, that too, 5 seasons ago in 2019 when Nabi was with the Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

Since that season, Mohammad Nabi has played only 7 games (once in 2020 and thrice in 2021). He didn't feature in the league for even once in 2022 and 2023 and this season, he has already played the same amount of games as he did in 2020 and 2021 combined. 

Mumbai Indians being IPL champions on 5 occasions, should actually be using the resources available to them instead of just keeping it like a showpiece. His batting might be a little questionable but there's no doubt regarding his efficiency with the ball. Will he get more chances after posting that story on Instagram today? Or will it hurt the ego of Hardik Pandya and result in getting Nabi sidelined? Time will tell. 

Watch Nabi's cryptic Instagram post on Hardik Pandya  

Mohammad Nabi's Instagram story. pic.twitter.com/Rk4qWoIOsl

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 19, 2024