Shardul Thakur becomes most useless Impact Player in IPL history

A beyond understandable decision was taken by the Mumbai Indians against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 30. They selected seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur as their Impact Player. But surprisingly, Thakur, who was an impact player, neither delivered a single ball, nor went to bat.

The Impact Player rule allows all Indian Premier League teams to make tactical changes according to the situation. Shardul Thakur can do both bat and ball. Mumbai Indians did some good work with the bat, especially from their opener, Ryan Rickelton, who registered a century in this match, but their bowlers did very little to protect the first innings total.

Shardul Thakur's role as an impact sub remains unclear

Shardul Thakur became a part of the combination against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in place of Robin Minz. Minz is a batter, and Shardul Thakur is a pace bowling all-rounder. It is understandable that in place of a regular batter, the addition of Shardul in the line-up strengthened the bowling part of the team.

Took everyone by surprise, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya did not ask the all-rounder to deliver a single over. As an impact player, Shardul Thakur did only fielding work. It was some news for the Indian cricket fans. Why did Pandya not utilise Shardul while most of their bowlers were struggling against the Sunrisers Hyderabad batter? It remains a mystery.

SRH batters toyed with the Mumbai Indians' bowlers

Batting first, Ryan Rickelton's unbeaten 123-run knock took MI to 243 runs in 20 overs in exchange for 5 wickets. On a batting-friendly deck of the Wankhede Stadium, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma started SRH's innings with an aggressive approach. Sharma (45), Head (76), Heinrich Klassen (65 not out off 30), and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) took SRH safely home, finishing the match in only 18.4 overs.

Mumbai Indians bowling stats vs SRH on April 29 at the Wankhede Stadium:

Trent Boult – 4.0 overs, 0 maidens, 41 runs, 1 wicket (Economy: 10.25)

Jasprit Bumrah – 4.0 overs, 0 maidens, 54 runs, 0 wickets (Economy: 13.50)

Will Jacks – 1.0 over, 0 maidens, 19 runs, 0 wickets (Economy: 19.00)

Allah Ghazanfar – 4.0 overs, 0 maidens, 51 runs, 2 wickets (Economy: 12.75)

Ashwani Kumar – 2.0 overs, 0 maidens, 41 runs, 0 wickets (Economy: 20.50)

Hardik Pandya (c) – 3.4 overs, 0 maidens, 39 runs, 1 wicket (Economy: 10.64)

Pandya said they did not have enough options in bowling

After the match, the MI skipper said that they lacked options in the bowling department. However, he did not blame any bowler for the loose.

"I think this season we don't have much of an option, we really need to see what differences we can make. I won't put my bowlers under the bus. I think as an overall unit, we have not been able to do what exactly the Mumbai Indians stand for. We really need to see what all we need to work on and it's fine," the Mumbai Indians captain, Hardik Pandya, said after the match.

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