Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya has spoken about the disappointing defeat his team faced against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He said his players were good and he liked what he saw today.
Mumbai Indians suffered their second consecutive defeat in the Indian Premier League as Sunrisers Hyderabad won the game by 31 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. It was a torrid display of bowling from them as they conceded the highest total ever seen in the League.
Captain Hardik Pandya made quite a few mistakes with his bowlers here and there and ultimately Mumbai conceded 277 runs. One of the talking points of the game was the way he handled Jasprit Bumrah. The fast bowler, after bowling his first over in the powerplay, did not bowl again until the 13th over.
SRH batsmen so far had their feet moving and on the stage, not even the great Jasprit Bumrah could do anything. Captain Hardik Pandya along with Gerald Coetzee, young Kwena Maphaka, Piyush Chawla and Shams Mulani had an economy of 11-plus.
Sunrisers batsmen Travis Head (62), Abhishek Sharma (63), Aiden Markram (42*) and Heinrich Klaasen (80*) went berserk and made the Mumbai Indians bowlers look clueless. The way they were batting, even 300 runs seemed a possibility.
In the chase, Mumbai batsmen made sure to give it their all. Rohit Sharma (26) and Ishan Kishan (34) got off to a solid start. Earlier, Naman Dhir (30) and Tilak Varma (64) made vital contributions.
Captain Hardik Pandya (24) found it difficult to get going and Tim David (42*) was also unable to set the stage on fire as he would have liked. Mumbai managed 245 runs and lost the game by a margin of 31 runs.
Hardik Pandya spoke about the defeat and said that he did not expect SRH to score 277 runs. He admitted they made some mistakes but was optimistic his young bowling lineup would learn. In statements to the stations, he explained:
“Not really (I thought SRH would score 277 in the toss). Wicket was good, 277, no matter how good or bad you play, if the opponent has to score that much, he has batted well. “They (the bowlers) were good, it was tough, almost 500 runs were scored and the wicket was helping the batsmen, we could have done a few things here and there, but having said that, we have a young bowling attack and we will learn.”
It’s just a matter of time before we fix things – Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya also praised the efforts of the batting unit and expressed his confidence in his team, saying that they will be back soon. He also backed up young pacer Kwena Maphaka, who did not have a great performance on his debut. He explained:
“If the ball hits the crowd so many times, you will need time to get the overs. Everyone (the batsmen) looked good and it’s just a matter of time before we sort things out. He (Kwena Maphaka) was fantastic, he came into his first game and was overwhelmed, he was fine and backed up his skills, he just needs some game time.”
Mumbai Indians will be seen in action next when they take on Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on April 1.