Pathan shared his views on Pandya’s captaincy and highlighted that he made a blunder by bringing Jasprit Bumrah late into the attack.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has criticised Hardik Pandya’s captaincy on his return to Mumbai Indians as the five-time champions started the campaign with a loss against Gujarat Titans. Pandya, who led the Titans to back-to-back finals in the last two seasons, made some big mistakes during the mega clash at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Hardik Pandya came under the scanners after his captaincy debut for Mumbai Indians.
Pandya came under the scanners for some of his on-field decisions which backfired for Mumbai Indians in their 6-run defeat.
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Pathan shared his views on Pandya’s captaincy and highlighted that he made a blunder by bringing Jasprit Bumrah late into the attack.
“Hardik Pandya made big mistakes in the match. In the powerplay, he bowled 2 overs himself, that was a big mistake. He brought Jasprit Bumrah into the attack a bit late,” Irfan Pathan said in a video on his Instagram account.
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Hardik bowled two overs in the powerplay including the first one after winning the toss and opting to bowl. He leaked 20 runs from his first spell which allowed GT to take control in the powerplay.
Pathan further pointed out another costly mistake Hardik committed by sending Tim David over himself in the batting order as he suggested that the newly appointed MI skipper may be looking to avoid facing Rashid Khan.
“And secondly, when they were chasing, they sent Tim David higher up the order. He sent Tim David when Rashid Khan had an over left.
“I felt Hardik Pandya maybe didn’t want to face Rashid Khan after having not played cricket for a long time. This could be the case. I won’t agree with the fact that there was an experienced Indian batter sitting in the dressing room and sent an overseas player under pressure against Rashid. They missed a trick there,” Irfan added.
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Hardik came out to bat with two overs left in the game and was slipping away from Mumbai’s reach. They needed 19 runs off the last over as he started off with a six and then hit a four, however, veteran Umesh Yadav bounced back by taking his wicket which shifted the match completely in the Titans’s favour.
Pathan also hailed Gill for his positive start to the captaincy in IPL as he made some brave calls in the bowling changes which worked for the hosts.
“Welcome to captaincy Shubman Gill. He did very good captaincy as a young skipper,” he concluded.
