Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has targeted it again Mumbai Indians Captain Hardik Pandya for his poor decision-making during his side’s 24-game loss against KKR.
The Kolkata Knight Riders appeared to be a much more determined side as they battled for their first win at MI’s Wankhede Stadium in 12 long years. The main blame for Mumbai’s defeat lies with Hardik Pandya, who failed to capitalize after a very good start in the first innings.
Hardik Pandya’s attempt to bring Naman Dhir into the attack proved costly
When KKR batted first in Wankhede, Hardik Pandya and the other MI bowlers did a surprisingly good job of restricting the visitors’ run in the powerplay. The upper and middle orders of Calcutta had no answers to the questions of Pandya, Nuwan Thosera and Jasprit Bumrah.
Thus, the wicket-taking spree began by removing Phil Salt in the 4th ball of the 1st over for just 5 runs. In his next over, Thosera took the wicket of number 3 batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi for 13, and 4 balls later he got Shreyas Iyer out for 6 off 4.
Hardik Pandya joined the group and picked Sunil Narine for 8/8 with flawless bowling while veteran Piyush Chawla caught and bowled dangerous player Rinku Singh for 9. Kolkata were 57/5 after the first ball of the seventh over, but Pandya decided to bring the ball in. The inexperienced Naman Dhir into the attack gave momentum to Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey, who formed an 83-run partnership.
From a score of 57/5, the Knight Riders ended up with 169 points on the board. MI then failed to reach the total score, reaching 145 in 18.5 overs.
Irfan Pathan expresses his disappointment
After Kolkata Knight Riders registered a dominant 24-run win at the Wankhede after 12 years, Irfan Pathan launched a devastating attack on Hardik Pandya.
Before his video of him thrashing Pandya went viral, the former India all-rounder had penned a series of tweets on X questioning the Mumbai Indians captain over his fading moves.
Irfan Pathan exposes Hardik Pandya’s captaincy 🗣️-
“Mumbai Indians are a solid team on paper, but their captain has once again failed to lead them well. It’s a complete team failure in this defeat.” pic.twitter.com/oIdW97Chao
— 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐢𝐢⁴⁵ (@rushiii_12) May 3, 2024
Irfan Pathan started the video by saying that Mumbai’s journey was over and that no matter how strong they looked on paper, they were not well managed. Pathan destroyed Hardik Pandya by stating that the questions and criticism of the latter were right.
“The story of Mumbai Indians ends here. This team was so good on paper, but it wasn’t managed. The questions asked about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy were absolutely right. When they restricted KKR to 57/5, they didn’t make it. “You didn’t have to give Naman Dhir three consecutive overs. You had to bring your main bowler and you gave three overs to your sixth bowler.” – Said Irfan Pathan in his latest X-video.
Irfan Pathan asks MI to regroup
The best advice Irfan Pathan gave to the Mumbai Indians team management was to regroup and let the players accept that Hardik Pandya is their captain. The match-winning man of the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup final claimed that MI did not look united and this was something they should improve on in future.
“The captain has a big influence on the game. Mumbai Indians do not look like a united team and the management needs to keep this in mind. The players have to respect and accept the captain and we didn’t see that on the field. “They have to improve in this aspect.” – Pathan concluded.