There just doesn’t seem to be any reprieve in store for Hardik Pandya. Hardik, already one of the most criticized players in the Indian Premier League, worsened as Rajasthan Royals secured a comfortable victory over the five-time champions on Monday. Hardik, who is still surrounded by boos from fans wherever he goes, was spotted spending some time alone in the MI dugout after the bitter result against RR.
It was a heartbreaking sight to see Hardik all dejected as the Mumbai Indians players left the stadium after the match. Here’s the video:
The Royals emerged triumphant on the back of a Yuzvendra Chahal (3/11) and Trent Boult (3/22) combined their efforts to smother Mumbai Indians with the bat, restricting them to 125/9. Riyan Parag (54 not out) then delivered another top-shelf knock to lift Rajasthan Royals to the top spot in the IPL points table.
Although commentator and former India and Mumbai player Sanjay Manjrekar appealed to the crowd to behave, the boos continued until Pandya hit a pair of fours to make the Mumbai fans smile again after their side faced 20/4 in the powerplay it was staggering.
Pandya top-scored with 34 for Mumbai in his attempt to turn the brickbats into cheers, but Rajasthan came out on top at every juncture of the match, which was underlined by special bowling efforts from both Chahal, Boult and Nandre Burger (2/32). ), all of which were supported by excellent fieldwork.
Boult struck early with a three-wicket burst in the powerplay and Chahal made life miserable for the rest of the batters in the next overs, putting up brilliant figures of 3/11 in four overs, accounting for Pandya, Tilak Varma (32) and Gerald Coetzee (4).
If Chahal suffocated the MI batters in the middle overs while stopping both Pandya and Varma, it was Boult who ran riot in the home side’s top order, dismissing Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis before the first ball.
The tone was set in the first over himself with Boult rocking Mumbai Indians twice, including Rohit’s expensive scalp for a golden duck.
Dhir (0) was guilty of running over the wickets and failing to cover Boult’s inswing, with the ball crashing into his pads. A DRS call was ultimately burned as tracking of the ball showed it would have clipped the leg stump.
The situation in Mumbai worsened when impact player Brevis (0) played one meek to short third on another delivery that deflected away from the right-hander off Boult in the third over, with Nandre Burger (2/32) taking a sharp reverse cupped catch.
Pandya, who was booed from all sides here, walked to a similar reception, but a brief backlash from him turned the negative noise into cheers.
The Mumbai skipper showed intent when he hit three fours off Burger in the sixth over but it was Chahal who ended Pandya’s resistance.
With PTI inputs
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