IPL 2024: Captaincy woes deepen for hapless MI’s Hardik Pandya after loss to SRH

Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya finds himself in a very tough situation. The all-rounder has been the talking point - albeit for all the wrong reasons - ever since the 17th season of the Indian Premier League commenced.

There were questions on how Pandya was appointed the skipper of Mumbai Indians, relegating Rohit Sharma, who has led the franchise to five IPL titles, to the sidelines unceremoniously. The fans weren’t kind to Pandya either, as he was greeted with loud boos in both the matches Mumbai have played (in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad) so far.

To make matters worse for himself, he hasn’t shown the leadership qualities the franchise wanted. His bowling tactics, like holding Jasprit Bumrah till the middle overs, have back-fired and his field placements haven’t been impressive as well. Although he tried to put up a brave face post match, deep down the wounds would be hurting.

As the Sunrisers Hyderabad players were going berserk, a hapless Pandya ran out of ideas very early into the match. He opened the bowling with Kwena Maphaka, who was impressive on the U-19 circuit but looked out of place in his first match on the big stage, and then proceeded to give himself a go.

Pandya held Bumrah back till the fourth over of the innings, and the bowler did a tidy job of just conceding five runs. However, Bumrah’s first spell consisted of only that, as Gerald Coetzee and Piyush Chawla were given the ball soon after.

Coetzee gave 23 runs in the last over of the powerplay, and Chawla looked elementary as Abhishek Sharma carted him for three sixes in his first over.

The move gave some breathing space to the SRH batsmen as Travis Head (62), Abhishek Sharma (63) and Heinrich Klassen (80) sent the Mumbai bowlers on a leather hunt, carting them for fours and sixes at will.

By the time Pandya turned to Bumrah in the 13th over, SRH had already amassed 173 runs, losing just two wickets. In the end, SRH scored a mammoth 277/3, breaking a host of records.

Former Indian bowler Irfan Pathan wasn’t impressed with Pandya holding Bumrah back. Taking to social media, Pathan said Pandya’s tactics were beyond his understanding. “The captaincy of Hardik Pandya has been ordinary, to say the least. Keeping Bumrah away for too long when the carnage was on was beyond my understanding,” Pathan said.

Former SRH coach Tom Moody concurred with Pathan and questioned why the franchise’s premier bowler wasn’t given a go earlier. “Where is Jasprit Bumrah?? Game nearly done, and your best bowler has only bowled ONE over (sic)!” he posted on social media.

To make matters worse, Pandya came to bat in the middle overs and couldn’t get going right from ball one. SRH captain Pat Cummins sneaked a couple of tidy and miserly overs, which took the match away from MI and put it firmly into SRH’s grasp.

Pandya was guilty of not scoring at a brisk rate, especially when the team was chasing a humongous score, and Pathan said the MI skipper’s strike rate is a matter of concern.

“If the whole team is playing with a strike (rate) of 200, the captain can’t bat with the batting strike rate of 120,” he opined.

Even in Mumbai’s first match against the Gujarat Titans, some of Pandy’s moves raised a few eyebrows. The all-rounder came to bat at number 7, prompting a surprise reaction from experts.

Mohammed Shami, who played for the Gujarat Titans under Pandya’s captaincy, said he was surprised to see the MI skipper not take on more responsibilities. “As a captain, you should take more responsibilities. As far as Hardik is concerned, he has played at number 3 and 4 for Gujarat in the past. What’s the issue in coming to bat at number 3 or 4? Batting at number 7…as if he was a tailender. You’re taking unnecessary pressure on yourself by coming at that number. If he had come earlier, the match would have been finished much earlier,” Shami said after the Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Titans match at Ahmedabad.

It is high time Pandya gets back to the drawing board before more damage is done to the five-time champion team’s campaign.