Mumbai Indians are having a forgettable run in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the five-time champions have lost three matches on trot. Currently placed at the bottom of the points table, MI’s new newly-appointed skipper Hardik Pandya is also facing severe criticism from the fans, ever-since he replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain. MI’s latest defeat came against Rajasthan Royals, who restricted them to 125/9 and then chased down the target in just 15.3 overs.
After the loss against RR, a very emotional moment was captured as Hardik was seen sitting in the dugout and having an interaction with Ambati Rayudu. Hardik kept his hand on Rayudu’s shoulder as the former MI batter was seen consoling him.
“A tough night, we didn’t start the way we wanted to start. I wanted to counter, we were in a decent position to get us around 150-160, but my wicket allowed them to get back more into the game, I needed to do a lot more. It’s okay, we didn’t expect such a surface, but you can’t always have it as a batter, it’s nice at times for the bowlers to have a say. It’s all about doing the right things, (correct) results happen at times, at some other times it doesn’t. As a group, we believe we can do a lot better, but we need to be a bit more disciplined and show a lot more courage,” said Hardik after MI’s loss.
Earlier, former India cricketer-turned-commentator, Navjot Singh Sidhu echoed the sentiments of thousands of Rohit Sharma fans as he asked what wrong did the Hitman do, to be removed as Mumbai’s skipper.
“Nobody can digest the fact that India’s hero, India’s captain, is not the captain of our franchise. ‘What wrong has he done?’ is what fans of the franchise would be thinking,” Navjot Sidhu said on Star Sports.
“But what does he have to do? There is nothing that succeeds like success. If he had won these two matches, there wouldn’t have been any noise,” he further added.
