Not only was Mumbai Indians Captain Hardik Pandya booed during the IPL 2024 match against Gujarat Titans, he is also copping criticism for his captaincy.
Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes Pandya made some crucial mistakes by opening the bowling instead of Jasprit Bumrah and then dropping himself to No. 7 during a high-pressure run chase.
'Hardik Pandya made two big mistakes in the match. In the Powerplay, he bowled two overs at the start which was a big mistake because he brought in Bumrah a bit late,' Pathan said on Instagram.
Pandya opened the bowling for MI but failed to make an impact in his first spell of two overs in which he conceded 20 runs.
Bumrah, who was bought into the attack in the fourth over, made an immediate impact, as he struck in his opening over with Wriddhiman Saha's wicket.
Pathan can't fathom why Pandya sent Tim David ahead of him in the final overs of the chase. Mumbai were in control with 43 required from five overs with seven wickets in hand.
But the Titans bowlers turned the match on its head with a superb showing in the death overs.
Mumbai lost four wickets for 24 runs in four overs, leaving Pandya with the task of getting 19 from the final over, but he perished after hitting a six and a four off Umesh Yadav's first two balls before the hosts clinched a thrilling victory by six runs.
'And when they were batting, he sent Tim David ahead of him. He sent Tim David to bat when Rashid Khan had an over left. I think maybe Hardik Pandya didn't want to face Rashid Khan because he hasn't played any cricket for a long time.' Pathan said.
'Maybe this was one of the reasons. Otherwise, I can't believe that an experienced Indian batter is sitting in the dressing room while an overseas player comes out to bat under pressure in a run chase against Rashid. Maybe that was the game changing moment,' Pathan added.
Mumbai Indians Batting Coach Kieron Pollard backed Pandya's move to open the bowling instead of Bumrah and also to bat at No. 7.
'You have to plan and decide what you want to do as a team. Hardik has also bowled with the new ball for Gujarat over the last couple of years. He swung the new ball and bowled it well, which was nothing new to us.
'We tried to use the advantage of the new ball swinging along. When I look at the decision made, there is nothing wrong with it, and we move on,' Pollard said after the match.
On Pandya's decision to bat at No. 7, Pollard said one can't attribute the decision to the skipper.
'No decision is made on full autonomy, so we can't say it is his decision. As a team, we have plans; we talk about setting entry points for batters. The top order batted deep into the game, and we also had two power hitters to go in the back end.
'Usually, if you look at it over time, Tim has finished games for us, and Hardik has done it over the years.
'So, at any point, any one of them can resurrect the situation. It didn't happen tonight, so there will likely be a chat about who should have gone earlier.' Pollard explained.
'But all of those things are in hindsight, and as a team, we make decisions, so let's put a stop to "Hardik made a decision, Hardik did this, Hardik did that". We are a team. We make decisions collectively as one.'
