Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan criticizes Hardik Pandya for his captaincy, as the Mumbai Indians have been handed their eighth defeat of the season, and this time it was KKR. The Mumbai Indians were bowled out of 145 when the target in front of them was 170.
Irfan Pathan criticized Hardik Pandya after the match on his Instagram channel. Irfan Pathan feels that Hardik’s decisions as skipper of the side cost Mumbai the match.
Irfan Pathan said that the Mumbai Indians should have used their frontline bowlers when KKR were struggling at 57/5.
Irfan Pathan feels that if the Mumbai Indians had done so, they would have easily restricted KKR under 150, but they gave away an extra 20 runs, which in the end turned out to be a major difference between the two sides.
Irfan Pathan said, “The 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 sixth bowler; 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 gotten to 150, and that turned out to be the point of difference.”
Irfan Pathan feels that in the camp, players were not ready for a captaincy change, but when that happened, the team failed to perform as a unit as there were groups formed in the team.
Irfan Pathan said, “Cricket is a game where captaincy and management are 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.”
