Irfan Pathan has blamed Hardik Pandya for Mumbai Indians’ poor performance in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024). The former India all-rounder made the comments after Mumbai Indians’ four-wicket loss against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday (April 30).
The defeat has all but sealed Mumbai Indians’ fate in the ongoing IPL 2024. Their chances of making the playoffs are currently extremely bleak. The five-time IPL champions are currently ninth in the points table with just three wins from ten games. Even if they win their remaining four league games, they are unlikely to make it to the next round.
Mumbai Indians also failed to put in a clear performance against the Lucknow Super Giants. When asked to bat first, they could only manage a modest total of 144 in 7 out of 20 overs. Mumbai Indians lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma (4), Suryakumar Yadav (10), Tilak Varma (7) and Hardik Pandya (0) for just 27 runs in the powerplay and simply couldn’t recover.
Nehal Wadhera was the team’s top scorer with 46 points while Ishan Kishan (32) and Tim David (35*) also scored crucial goals. In reply, Lucknow Super Giants chased the total in 19.2 overs, with Marcus Stoinis’ 62-run knock making the difference.
Irfan Pathan criticizes Hardik Pandya:
As Mumbai Indians suffered another defeat in the ongoing IPL 2024, Irfan Pathan blamed Hardik Pandya for their poor run in the competition. Soon after Mumbai Indians’ loss against Lucknow Super Giants, the former cricketer and commentator took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his views on what went wrong for the Mumbai-based team this season.
He stressed that Mumbai Indians made it to the playoffs last year even without their talisman Jasprit Bumrah, before pointing out that Hardik Pandya’s poor captaincy was the reason for their dismal performance this season.
“The Mumbai Indians team that qualified last year did not have Jasprit Bumrah but this season they had his services. Yet they are in this situation. Simply because the team on site was not well managed. Too many mistakes from their captain.” Hardik Pandya. It’s the truth.” Irfan Pathan said.
The Mumbai Indians team that qualified last year did not have Jasprit Bumrah but this season they had his services. You are still in this situation. Simply because the team on site was not managed well. Too many mistakes from their captain Hardik Pandya. It’s the truth.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 30, 2024
This is not the first time this season that Irfan Pathan has attacked Hardik Pandya. Earlier, he had stated that the Mumbai Indians captain’s batting power has waned. He had also criticized his death bowling and captaincy last month.
Hardik Pandya’s batting power is waning. This is a big concern overall. At Wankhede he is different but on pitches where there is little help it is a concern for him.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 22, 2024
Hardik Pandya, who bowled the last over, showed the lack of confidence in Akash Madhwal’s bowling and his own lack of skills as a death over bowler.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 14, 2024