In a clash against his former franchise Gujarat Titans (GT), Hardik Pandya started his Mumbai Indians (MI) captaincy journey with a six-run loss in a nail-biting encounter. Hardik held himself back in the run chase and walked out to bat at no.7 in the 19th over. Hardik hit a six and a four but lost his wicket on the third ball of the final over as MI lost yet another season opener. After the match, Hardik was asked why Tilak Varma denied a single to Tim David in Rashid Khan’s over. The all-rounder backed his teammate for doing what he felt right at the moment.
“I think Tilak felt that that was a better idea at that point of time, I completely back him, not an issue, 13 games to go,” he said in the post-match presentation.
Varma’s plan backfires
Varma denied the single in an attempt to protect Tim David against Rashid. However, the plan didn't work as Varma failed to hit a boundary and had to take a single on the penultimate ball of his quota of four overs. Davod wasn't troubled and he picked the googly to take a single towards long-on.
In hindsight, the team management should have send Hardik ahead of David when Rashid was operating. He conceded just three runs in the 17th over.
MI implode in run chase
Earlier, MI had seven wickets in hand when they needed 48 runs from six overs. After Dewald Brevis’ wicket, MI batters struggled to hit boundaries and the required run rate went up. Hardik said that they lost the momentum in the slog overs.
“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,” the 30-year-old said.
MI’s next encounter
Since IPL 2012 edition, MI have not won their opening match of the season. After a narrow defeat, they will go up against Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on March 27.
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