Former Australia captain Aaron Finch has expressed surprise over Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher’s recent comments on Hardik Pandya’s captaincy in the ongoing IPL 2024.
The five-time IPL champions suffered a disastrous campaign in the 17th edition of the competition and finished at the bottom of the points table. The decision to hand over the captaincy to Hardik Pandya did not work out at all as Mumbai Indians struggled throughout the season.
The Mumbai-based team looked restless throughout the competition and were rarely in a position to qualify for the playoffs.
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As Hardik Pandya failed to lead from the front, Mumbai Indians’ campaign collapsed from the start. In the end, they finished the season with only four wins in 14 games. After the end of the campaign, Mark Boucher admitted that off-field incidents affected Hardik Pandya’s performance on the field.
The franchise’s decision to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as captain did not go down well with the fans and they made sure to vent their anger. Fans booed and jeered Pandya throughout the tournament. While Boucher’s comments didn’t surprise many, Aaron Finch is not one of them.
The Australian great expressed surprise at Boucher’s comments and said the Mumbai Indians coach should have ensured the team had a plan before every match. Finch also warned that there would be a lot of fallout in the Mumbai Indians camp after this year’s disappointing season.
“There will be a lot of consequences. It was a really disappointing campaign. The only thing that alarmed me a little was Mark Boucher saying that off-field problems clouded Hardik Pandya’s decision-making on the field.
“That’s the coach’s job: to be very clear in every game. You have to be so well planned and prepared that you have thought of all the possible scenarios. Then, when the time comes, one of the moves you discuss is well and truly thought out. “Finch was quoted by Hindustan Times.
Talking about Pandya’s performance this season, the all-rounder failed to make an impact with either the bat or the ball. In 14 games, he scored 216 runs at an average of 18. With the ball, he picked up 11 wickets but had an economy rate of almost 11.