Former Australian skipper Steven Smith has lashed out Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya for his tactical decision during the SRH victory over MI by 31 runs.
Steven Smith said that he was perplexed by the way Hardik Pandaya used Jasprit Bumrah, as the pacer had bowled a single over until the 13th over of the SRH innings. SRH went on to score 277, which became the highest score in the history of the IPL.
In his interaction with Star Sports, Steve Smith said that as a captain, he would have bowled Jasprit out by the 15th or 16th over. Jasprit Bumrah was the most economical bowler in MI’s bowling unit.
Steve Smith said, “I think they missed a trick in bringing Bumrah back in the 13th over. When the ball’s going around like that, you’ve just got to bring your best bowler back earlier than you would’ve liked. It’s just about adapting on the go. I would’ve bowled Bumrah out by the 15-16th over to try to get some wickets.”
Steve Smith further said that he was perplexed to see the way Bumrah was being used by Hardik, insisting that if jasprit Bumrah was used in middle overs, he would have picked up crucial breakthroughs for the Mumbai Indians.
Steve Smith said, “Once you get some wickets, you slow the run rate down anyway. If these guys are batting at the end, it doesn’t matter who is bowling. We saw that in the last two overs, where he still got smacked. So if he had come back earlier and taken some risks, things could have been really different. They got 277; they could’ve been down to 250, and they might’ve chased those down. I was just perplexed that Bumrah had bowled just 1 over up until the 13th over.”
