Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has expressed his concerns regarding Mumbai Indians’ (MI) captain Hardik Pandya’s performance following their loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 24 runs on Friday night.
Pathan pointed out significant instances where he felt MI made mistakes, specifically honing in on Pandya’s on-field decision-making. The decision to utilize Naman Dhir for three important overs during KKR’s difficult situation at 57/5 was questioned, with Pathan implying that it resulted in a costly 20-run deficit for MI, enabling KKR to achieve a formidable total of 170.
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What Irfan said
“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 got to 150 and that turned out to be the point of difference,” Irfan said on Instagram.
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Pathan’s critique extended beyond that, as he examined the dynamics within the MI camp, indicating a potential lack of cohesion and unity among the team members. He subtly hinted at the existence of possible rifts or factions within the squad, emphasizing the importance of players accepting the authority of their captain. This insinuation suggests a possible deficiency in the current MI setup that may need to be addressed.
“Cricket is a game where captaincy and management is 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,” Pathan further added.
With just 3 wins from their 11 games so far in the ongoing season, MI are lying at the 9th place with just 6 points in their kitty.
