Credit: X/IPL
The former Indian cricketer, Irfan Pathan, has attacked Hardik Pandya after Mumbai Indians lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 24 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The 39-year-old stated that the questions on the captaincy of Hardik Pandya are “absolutely valid” after MI are effectively out of the reckoning to make the IPL 2024 playoffs.
During a pulsating contest against Kolkata Knight Riders, the Mumbai Indians bowling lineup had reduced the opposition to 57/5 just after the powerplay stage, but they failed to capitalise on the initiative. They allowed Venkatesh Iyer and the impact substitute Manish Pandey to put together an 83-run stand for the sixth wicket, which meant that KKR got to a fighting total of 169 runs despite getting bundled out with a ball remaining in their innings.
In the run chase, Mumbai Indians kept losing wickets regularly throughout their innings, and once Andre Russell got rid of Suryakumar Yadav for 56 off 35, the match was all but sealed. Mitchell Starc cleaned up the tail of MI, picking up four wickets in total, to help KKR win against the five-time champions for the first time in Mumbai in 12 years.
Questions on Hardik Pandya's captaincy are absolutely valid: Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan, who has been the harshest critic of Hardik Pandya throughout the IPL 2024 season, tore into the MI captain once again for not leading the side well. He said the following on his Instagram video, as per Times of India, “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, and 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,” he added.
The 39-year-old also pointed out that Mumbai Indians are not playing as a team currently and remarked, “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.”
Here is the clip of Irfan Pathan talking at length about Hardik Pandya's captaincy and MI's demise in IPL 2024:
