Being a captain of Mumbai Indians is not that easy and Hardik Pandya felt relentless pressure on his shoulders straightaway when he stepped out on the field against Gujarat Titans at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Several eyebrows were raised when Jasprit Bumrah was not picked to bowl the first over and instead, the fans saw an entirely different scenario as Hardik Pandya opened MI’s bowling attack with the new ball.
In no time, the MI fans booed Hardik Pandya several times, in what was a never-before-seen incident in the tournament’s history. Fans were particularly not happy with the MI’s team management replacing Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as the captain. It was under Rohit Sharma’s tutelage, MI became a formidable force in the competition, winning as many as five IPL trophies.
Mohammed Shami bashes Hardik Pandya for his decision-making against GT
Meanwhile, Indian paceman, Mohammed Shami launched a scathing attack on Hardik Pandya for his clueless captaincy in the game against Gujarat Titans. The GT paceman who has been ruled out of the IPL 2024 due to a left ankle injury, expressed that he was very much surprised to see Bumrah not being chosen to bowl the first over. The five-time IPL champions had the game in their hands before they made things quite complicated in the fag end of the overs.
Hardik Pandya who came out to bat at No.7 had his task cut out when MI required 19 off the last 6 balls. The MI captain provided a glimmer of hope by hitting a six and a four in the first two deliveries off Umesh Yadav but was dismissed in the third delivery as he failed to get his connection right in the short-pitched ball. Shami echoed that the game would have already been finished had Hardik promoted himself up the batting order like he used to do in the last two seasons with Gujarat Titans.
ALSO READ: RCB responds after Murali Karthik controversially referred to Yash Dayal as ‘Trash’
“As a captain, you should take more responsibilities. As far as Hardik is concerned, he has played at number 3 and 4 for Gujarat in the past. What’s the problem in coming to bat at number 3 or 4? Batting at number 7, as if Hardik was a tail-ender. You’re taking unnecessary pressure on yourself by coming at that number. If he had come earlier, the match would have been finished much earlier,” GT pacer added in a statement.
