Hardik Pandya’s captaincy strategies during the match against Punjab Kings were questioned by the IPL winning coach
In the IPL match against Punjab Kings, former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody believes Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya did not make the best use of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, which allowed them to rally from a challenging position and be within striking distance of MI’s total. In the Mullanpur encounter on Thursday, Bumrah remained unbeaten, taking off the dangerous Shashank Singh, Rilee Rossouw, and opener Sam Curran to help MI win by nine runs. MI had given PBKS a 193 target.
The India mainstay took two wickets in the second over, removing Curran and Rossouw, but just as PBKS looked defeated, he was removed from the attack, allowing the home team to recover.
“Again, Mumbai relies heavily on him to turn their fortunes around. He bowled two overs early on, putting the Punjab Kings on their back. However, oddly, he didn’t bowl another over until the thirteenth,” observed the former Australian cricketer.
“Right now, he’s at the height of his abilities. And that’s when I believe the Mumbai Indians gave the Punjab Kings a chance to win this game again. My favorites are (Gerald) Coetzee and Bumrah, and I’m curious to know what the other fast bowlers have to say about this show. “Bumrah ought to have bowled once more in order to completely shut out Punjab on campus,” he continued.
Given the demands of the IPL, former South African fast Dale Steyn felt that MI’s front-line pacers Bumrah and Coetzee needed assistance from other bowlers. He made a suggestion that MI’s bowling department was suffering from an unmotivated Pandya. “Bumrah or Coetzee returning would help MI finish games early, in our opinion. However, they will have to rely on players like Hardik, who hasn’t been bowling as well lately, to finish, and they might have trouble in the end with some of the other bowlers traveling, such Romania Shepherd.”Mumbai must now devise a strategic plan, but they also require one of their bowlers to step up and provide significant support for Bumrah and Coetzee. Otherwise, MI risked losing more wickets in the future.
In addition, Moody believed that Suryakumar Yadav, who recently recovered from an ankle injury and a hernia operation, would need to participate for the whole league season in order to fully recover.
On Thursday, “Mr 360 degrees” amassed a 53-ball 78 to lead MI to 192. Moody said that the middle-order hitter needed to return to optimal health in order to help India’s chances of winning the T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies.
“It is imperative that he gradually regains his maximum level of fitness; it would be fantastic if he could play for the entire 40 overs.” Not because he bowls or anything, but rather for his own mental health and physical preparedness for life after the IPL. He had a fantastic innings today.
Ashutosh Sharma of PBSK was commended by Steyn for his use of the sweep stroke against Bumrah, which is a technique that isn’t commonly utilized against the India fast bowler.
“I mean, the Indian Premier League never stops to let us down with close games and producing new heroes… Ashutosh goes down and plays a sweep that goes for six after Bumrah bowls a no-ball.”
