Mumbai Indians' (MI) newly-appointed skipper Hardik Pandya is unfazed despite a six-run defeat at the hands of Gujarat Titans (GT) in their IPL 2024 campaign opener on Sunday (March 24).
Chasing 169 runs to win the contest, Mumbai were in the pole position and the favourites to clinch the contest as they needed just 42 runs in the last five overs.
However, Gujarat made a remarkable comeback in the game and restricted Mumbai to just 162 at the end.
"Obviously we back ourselves to chase those 42 runs (in the last five overs) but it was one of those days where we see the score quite less in those last five overs, we lost a bit of momentum there," Pandya said during the post-match presentation.
"It feels good to be back because this is one stadium where you can enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively and obviously the crowd was full and they got a good game as well."
Notably, this was MI's 12th consecutive loss in their first match of an IPL season since 2013.
Hardik also touched upon an incident that was gradually turning into a point of contention. Interestingly, Tilak Varma refused to run a single on the third ball of the 17th over bowled by Rashid Khan while batting with Tim David.
When the MI skipper was questioned about the incident, he said that Tilak felt it "was a better idea at that point in time" and backed him for making that call.
"I think Tilak felt that was a better idea at that point of time. I completely back him. Not an issue, (we have) 13 games to go," said Hardik.
On the other hand, the winning captain Shubman Gill heaped praise on his bowlers for executing their plans wonderfully at the death despite the dew factor coming to haunt them.
"I think the way the boys held their nerves and the way we bowled in the death overs, especially with the dew coming in, I thought it was special.
"With the dew, how the spinners bowled, they made sure we stayed in the game. It was all about putting on the pressure," said Gill.
