Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya has spoken about the disappointing defeat his team suffered in the match against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He said they backed themselves to get the last 42 runs but lost the momentum.

Mumbai Indians The Indians would have been absolutely devastated by the way they lost the match against the Gujarat Titans. They had the game in their hands for most of the match but failed to capitalize in the last 5 overs and faced a disappointing 6-run defeat.

Mumbai Indians had a great outing with the ball based on an excellent bowling performance by Jasprit Bumrah. The fast bowler returned with figures of 3/14. Gerald Coetzee also put in a decent performance with his 27/2 as they restricted Gujarat Titans to 168-6.

Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai started the chase quite well even though they lost Ishan Kishan early. Rohit Sharma (43) and Dewald Brevis (46) took the game away from the opposition and it looked like Mumbai Indians would win the game easily.

However, in the last 5 overs, they lost wickets in quick succession and were under a lot of pressure. Tilak Varma (25), Tim David (11) and Hardik Pandya (11) did their best but could not take the team beyond the finish line and GT emerged victorious by 6 runs.

Hardik Pandya admitted that they lost momentum in the end and also spoke about the fans at the Narendra Modi International Stadium in Ahmedabad. In statements to the stations, he explained:

“We backed ourselves to chase those 42 runs but it was one of those days where we see the score quite a bit lower compared to what it could have been in five overs, I think we lost a bit of momentum there.

“It feels good to be back because this is a stadium where you can enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively and obviously the crowd was full and they played a good game too.”

I fully support him: Hardik Pandya on Tilak Varma not giving a strike to Tim David against Rashid Khan

During the death of Rashid Khan, the approach of Mumbai Indians surprised many. Tilak Varma did not take the single, denying Tim David off the leg-spinner.

Hardik Pandya was asked about the same and he replied that he backs Tilak Varma and they still have 13 games left. Speaking about the same, he explained:

“(On Tilak not winning the single against Rashid) I think Tilak felt it was a better idea at the time, I fully support it, it’s not a problem, there are 13 games left.”

Mumbai Indians will next be seen in action when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday (March 27). For the thirteenth consecutive time in the league they failed to win their first game of the season. Captain Hardik Pandya will be hoping to make a strong comeback in the second match of the Indian Premier League.