Nothing seems to be going in Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya’s favor.©
Nothing seems to be going in Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya’s favor as the franchise suffered their second defeat in as many matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 fixture on Wednesday. After a narrow defeat to Gujarat Titans (GT) in their season opener, MI were comprehensively defeated at the expense of SRH, with the hosts recording the largest ever team total in the history of the IPL. SRH posted 277-3 and defeated MI by 31 runs in a six-hitting festival at Uppal Stadium. While Hardik is under the scanner for his captaincy, a video has emerged on social media, claiming that bowling coach Lasith Malinga ignored the MI captain, who sat next to an excited Kieron Pollard.
The video was shared by several users on the social media platform X.
I am the captain HARDIK
Give me my seat #HardikPandya #tuber#malinga#SRHvMI #MIvsSRH pic.twitter.com/gixxZFj7Qn— 2.0MSD CSK AMARAN (@ssv__remo) March 27, 2024
Hardik didn’t even try to stop Malinga from getting up and leaving the chair for him. Look at Pollard’s face, even he is uncomfortable. Pandya doesn’t know how to respect seniors. He could have brought a new chair #MIvsSRH #SRHvMI #RohitSharma #claasen #HardikPandya pic.twitter.com/araISohypL
— Rishabh (@iamrishabhNP) March 27, 2024
Even Malinga looks unhappy with their new captain. #SRHvMI pic.twitter.com/tmhLGnmgIt
— Nibraz Ramzan (@nibraz88cricket) March 27, 2024
SRH opener Travis Head (62 off 24) and number three Abhishek Sharma (63 off 23) put on a sensational display of power-hitting that saw the latter snatch the franchise record for fastest fifty from the Australian within minutes.
Heinrich Klaasen (80 not out from 34 balls) eventually provided the fireworks and helped SRH break an eleven-year-old record. The previous highest total in IPL was 263 for five achieved by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013. It was also the highest total recorded in a T20 competition.
Mumbai bowlers were left shell-shocked by SRH’s six-hit onslaught, but their batters came out with a goal and wrapped up what looked like a one-way match during the innings break.
They eventually finished at 246 for five in 20 overs.
A record 38 sixes were plundered in the match and it was the first time that 500 runs were scored in a T20 match.
“The wicket was good, but 277, no matter how good or bad you bowl, if the opponent gets 277, it means they batted very well. It was tough for bowlers. Nearly 500 runs were scored, so the wicket helped the batters,” Hardik said after the match.
(With PTI inputs)
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