read on app
Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has once again criticized Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya. Irfan Pathan is unhappy with the way Hardik Pandya captained against Rajasthan Royals. Even when he was needed, he did not stand up for the team. He did not even bowl in the match played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, whereas in the first two matches he had come to bowl in the beginning itself.
Under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya, Mumbai Indians suffered their third consecutive defeat in IPL 2024. In this match, Hardik Pandya came to bat at number 6 and was out in the 10th over. For this reason Irfan Pathan has said that the captain should do difficult things. “You always want your leader to do the hard work. If he doesn't do it, he won't get the respect of his team,” he wrote in the post.
Obviously Irfan Pathan wanted to tell that Hardik Pandya should have batted till the end and also bowled in this match. Even in the middle of the match, Irfan Pathan had posted a post, in which he had written, “Bringing your best bowler to bowl early is not rocket science. Finally, Bumrah came to bowl with the new ball. He was caught short by RR. Was forced to total.”
Jasprit Bumrah bowled as the third bowler in the first two matches. Hardik Pandya bowled the first over in the first match, while he bowled the second over in the second match, but he did not come to bowl in the third match. Even the ball was swinging. In the match played on March 27, Irfan Pathan had criticized the slow strike rate of Hardik Pandya. He wrote, “If the entire team is playing with a strike rate of 200, the captain cannot bat with a strike rate of 120.”
At the same time, in the match played on March 24, Irfan Pathan had said that Hardik Pandya should not have come to bat after Tim David. Rashid Khan's overs were left. In such a situation, Hardik Pandya had to come to bat in front of him. Hardik was criticized at that time also. Irfan had also criticized Hardik when Mumbai bowlers were being beaten in Hyderabad and he had saved Jasprit Bumrah.
The times to come are very difficult for Hardik Pandya, because he had to face tremendous booing in Mumbai itself. Even his decisions have been shocking. Be it his attitude towards Rohit Sharma, changes in bowling or batting. Mumbai has lost three matches and is last in the points table.