Mumbai Indians' (MI) new skipper Hardik Pandya has been subjected to unreal scrutiny and dissatisfaction from fans and experts alike in the first few days of the job in the 2024 edition of the IPL and it doesn't help when the team is unable to get points on the board. Two games in a row and the five-time champions have lost both of them and the latest one saw 523 runs being scored in a game and Hardik was at the receiving end once again not just as a captain but as a player too.
After his bowling changes were criticised by the likes of Irfan Pathan and Tom Moody for giving his strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah just one over in the first half of the Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) bowling innings, Hardik was slammed for his slow innings as well where other players struck around 200. Hardik, who began his innings with a six and four, couldn't time as well as he would have liked and ended up scoring just 24 off 20 balls he faced.
Irfan was at it again saying, "If the whole team is playing with the strike [rate] of 200, Captain can’t bat with the batting strike rate of 120." Even the fans, who have been spewing hatred on the all-rounder, believed that Hardik could have played a bit quicker even though the margin of defeat was 31 runs.
277 was always going to be a difficult task to chase down but starting from the top, the MI batters gave it their all. Mumbai Indians raced to 50 in just three overs before the wickets procession began as they lost both Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan within the powerplay itself. However, Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir kept MI on course with quickfire knocks with the former getting to a half-century.
With Hardik, Tim David and impact player Romario Shepherd in the tank, the match was never over. However, the required rate which was always around 14, crept up to 15, 17 and then 20 eventually getting out of the chasing team's reach as the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a record-shattering game achieved a magnificent win to open their account.
