Hardik Pandya in his first match for MI as captain© BCCI/Sportzpics
Following his side’s six-run loss to the Gujarat Titans (GT) in their campaign opener in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya said he supports batsman Tilak Varma’s decision to score that single against Rashid Khan. attack on the hard-hitting Tim David, even though it might have cost them the match. MI failed to capitalize on the momentum created by a 77-run stand between Rohit Sharma and Dewald Brevis and registered a narrow defeat to start the tournament. A crucial decision that decided the outcome of the match was Tilak not taking a single against Rashid Khan in the 17th over and backing himself to fire runs against the spinner instead of David.
In the post-match presentation, Hardik said: “Obviously we backed ourselves to chase those runs but it was one of those days where we see the score quite down compared to what it could have been in five overs. I think we lost a little bit of the points.” momentum there. It feels good to be back because this is a stadium where you can enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively and the crowd was clearly full and they played a good game too. (On Tilak not taking the single against Rashid) I think Tilak thought that was a better idea at that moment, I fully support him, no problem, thirteen games to go.”
When he came to the match, MI chose to bowl first. Gujarat Titans were largely kept quiet by Jasprit Bumrah (3/14) and Gerald Coetzee (2/27) and struggled to score at a good pace. Sai Sudharsan (45 in 39 balls, with three fours and a six), skipper Shubman Gill (31 in 22 balls, with three fours and a six) and Rahul Tewatia (22 in 15 balls, with two fours and a six) scored with useful knocks to take GT to 168/6 in 20 overs.
Chasing 169, MI lost Ishan Kishan (0) and Naman Dhir (20 in 10 balls, with a four and six) early, reduced to 30/2. A 77-run stand between Rohit Sharma (43 in 29 balls, seven fours and a six) and Dewald Brevis (46 in 38 balls, with two fours and three sixes brought MI back into the game. In death overs, pacers Spencer Johnson ( 2/25), Mohit Sharma (2/32) and Umesh Yadav (2/31) performed brilliantly, leaving MI six runs short. Hardik Pandya could score only 11 runs in four balls on MI return.
Sai Sudarshan received the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
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