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Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians (MI) captaincy debut ended in a six-run loss to his former franchise Gujarat Titans (GT) led by Shubman Gill. Hardik failed to finish the run chase despite hitting a six and a four against Umesh Yadav. After the match, Hardik walked up to former MI skipper Rohit Sharma who was talking to a couple of GT youngsters. Rohit turned back and had an animated chat with Pandya for a while.
GT’s Afghan all-rounder Rashid Khan and MI franchise owner Anant Ambani were conversing nearby. They moved away from where Rohit and Hardik were having a conversation.
Rohit’s fielding position
Earlier, in the match, Rohit was surprised when Hardik asked him to move back to long-on position. The two were involved in conversation during GT’s innings as well. MI bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit had a conversation as well while Hardik returned to his place.
Rohit’s ideal start, Pandya fails to finish
Earlier, Rohit helped MI got off to an ideal start. He scored 43 runs from 29 balls including seven fours and a six. He departed in the 13th over when MI's score was 107/3 and they needed 62 runs from 47 balls.
MI suffered a batting collapse in the slog overs. Hardik came in to bat when MI needed 27 runs from last two overs. He got to play just one ball in the penultimate over bowled by Gerald Coetzee. In the final over, MI needed 19 runs with Hardik on strike. The hard-hitter started with a six off Umesh Yadav's first ball. Then he hit a four in the same direction. With nine runs needed from four balls, Hardik miscued a shot and lost his wicket.
Hardik says MI lost momentum
“Obviously we backed ourselves to chase those 42 runs but it was one of those days when we see the score quite less compared to what it could have been in five overs, I think we lost little bit of momentum there,” Hardik said in the post-match presentation.
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