Hardik Pandya in his maiden game for MI as captain© BCCI/Sportzpics
Following his side’s six run loss to the Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign opener, Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya said that he backs batter Tilak Varma’s decision to not take that single against Rashid Khan to give strike to hard-hitting Tim David, even though it perhaps cost them the game. MI failed to capitalise on momentum brought by a 77-run stand between Rohit Sharma and Dewald Brevis and registered a narrow loss to start the tournament. A crucial decision that decided the outcome of the game 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 when we see the score quite less compared to what it could have been in five overs, I think we lost little bit of momentum there. It feels good to be back because this is one stadium where you can enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively and obviously the crowd was full and they got a good game as well. (On Tilak not taking the single vs Rashid) I think Tilak felt that that was a better idea at that point of time, I completely back him, not an issue, 13 games to go.”
Coming to the match, MI opted to bowl first. Gujarat Titans was largely kept silent by Jasprit Bumrah (3/14) and Gerald Coetzee (2/27) and struggled to score at a fine run rate. 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) chipped in with useful knocks to take GT to 168/6 in 20 overs.
Chasing 169, MI did lose Ishan Kishan (0) and Naman Dhir (20 in 10 balls, with a four and six) early, reduced to 30/2. However, 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 back MI 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 just 11 runs in four balls on MI return.
Sai Sudarshan got the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
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