In the last few weeks, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has been extremely critical of Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya's leadership and performances. In a fresh attack at Hardik, Irfan put a significant load of MI's failed season on the skipper's shoulders and brutally criticised the star all-rounder. Irfan was particularly vexed with Hardik's captaincy against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and slammed the MI skipper for making terrible decisions.
"Mumbai Indians' story is finished in the IPL 2024. They were a very good team on paper but they have not been managed well. Questions on Hardik Pandya's captaincy are absolutely valid. Today when KKR were 57/5, you bowled 3 bowlers of Naman Dhir. You bowled your 6th bowler, let KKR form a crucial partnership between Manish Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer. The 83-run partnership took KKR to 170 when they should have only got to 150 and that turned out to be the point of difference," Irfan said on Instagram.
Furthermore, Irfan shed light on the importance of captain and management in the success of a team, underlining that Mumbai Indians aren't looking close to being a team. Irfan also said that MI players couldn't accept Hardik as their skipper.
"Cricket is a game where captaincy and management is crucial and MI at the moment are not playing as a team and that's the biggest talking point of the season for MI. It is important for the players to accept their captain and I don't think it has happened for MI this season," Pathan further added.
6th title dream ends for MI
The Mumbai Indians, five-time IPL champions, suffered their eighth loss of the season, falling to the Kolkata Knight Riders by 24 runs. With this defeat, Mumbai's record now stands at three wins and eight losses in 11 matches, effectively ending their chances of advancing to the playoffs. Even if they win their remaining three games, Mumbai would only achieve six wins in 14 matches, insufficient for a playoff spot.
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