Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered their fourth defeat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 after losing to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday and their skipper, Hardik Pandya, is now under hot waters.
Pandya bowled the last over in the first innings and he was taken to the cleaners by CSK legend, MS Dhoni, as the 42-year-old hit him for three consecutive sixes, scoring 20 runs on just four balls.
Pandya’s poor display with the bowl at the death helped Chennai post 206 runs in the allocated overs and his decision to bowl the last over was questioned by fans as well as former cricketers.
The 26 runs Pandya conceded in the last over dented MI’s efforts of restricting CSK under the 200-run mark and Chennai won exactly by 20 runs.
Irfan Pathan took to his X, formerly Twitter, account where he stated that Pandya not trusting the likes of Akash Madhwal is showing his lack of faith as a captain.
“Hardik Pandya bowling the last over showed the lack of faith on Akash Madhwal's bowling and his own lack of skill as a death over bowler,” Pathan posted on X.
Not just Pathan, the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Kevin Pietersen also questioned Pandya’s choice of bowling in the last over and his captaincy throughout the match.
"Probably the worst kind of bowling that I've seen for a long, long time," Gavaskar said on Star Sports during the innings break after CSK posted 206 for 4.
"Oh, absolutely ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy. They should have been restricted despite the fact that Ruturaj Gaikwad had batted so well along with Shivam Dube. I do believe that they should have been restricted to 185-190," Gavaskar said.
Meanwhile, Pietersen stated that getting booed and all the noise inside the grounds is taking a toll on the all-rounder.
"I actually think, with Hardik Pandya, everything away from the game is affecting him so much. He's smiling too much when he does the toss. He's trying to act like he is so happy. He is not happy. I have been there. I have been in the firing line. And I can tell you now, it affects you,” Pietersen stated.
- Hardik Pandya
