After Mumbai Indians (MI)'s loss against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan suggested that there is a lack of respect in the dressing room for captain Hardik Pandya. With eight defeats in eleven matches, Hardik has had a disastrous first season in IPL as MI captain. Irfan, who has been critical of Hardik since the start of the season, once again questioned the MI captain's tactics. He pointed out how Hardik gave the ball to Naman Dhir when KKR were tottering at 57/5.
Irfan said Hardik's decision allowed KKR to rebuild their innings with the help of Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey, who played his first match of the season.
“The story of Mumbai Indians ends here. This team was so good on paper but it was not managed. The questions asked about Hardik Pandya's captaincy were completely correct. When you restricted KKR to 57/5, you did not that.” You didn't have to give Naman Dhir three consecutive overs. You had to take your main bowlers with you, and you gave your sixth bowler three overs. Manish Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer posted a strong partnership. You could have bowled them out at 150 instead of making them score 170,” Irfan said in a viral video.
Irfan Pathan exposes Hardik Pandya's captaincy –
“Mumbai Indians' solid team on paper was not managed well by their captain again. This complete team failure after this loss.” pic.twitter.com/oIdW97Chao
— (@rushiii_12) May 3, 2024
Irfan further suggested that the MI players do not respect Hardik as captain which has further hampered the team this season.
“Captaincy has a big impact in the game. Mumbai Indians do not look like a united team, and the management needs to take this into account. Players need to respect and accept the captain, and we have not seen that on the field. They didn't see that.” to improve on that front,” he added.
The win helped KKR retain their second position in the table, but now with 14 points to their name from 10 matches. Meanwhile, MI remained at 9th spot with 6 points after playing 11 matches. However, mathematically, Mumbai Indians are still alive in the race for the play-offs. They need to win their remaining three matches and hope for favorable results from other matches to finish in the top 4.
MI's remaining matches are against SRH, KKR and LSG on May 6, 11 and 17 respectively.
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