Hardik Pandya in post-match presentation ceremony© X (Twitter)
With results not going their way, Mumbai Indians continue to make headlines for the wrong reasons. Hardik Pandya‘s return to the Mumbai Indians, that too in the capacity of captain, was expected to lift the team’s morale but the result has been the opposite. Rohit Sharma‘s exit as captain left a bitter taste in the mouths of fans while Hardik continues to be booed at every ground he goes. But, after MI suffered a defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, Hardik found not just his captaincy but his bowling and batting skills being questioned.
In fact, judging Hardik’s post-match comments about his team’s loss, Australia legend Adam Gilchrist painted an intriguing picture, asserting not all is well within the Mumbai Indians unit.
“High-profile teams are a victim of their own success. There are often trades that come out of the blue, and fans feel like, ‘hand on, we are not invested in this’. They feel that they are part of this big picture and hence feel blindsided. The way this Hardik traded came out of nowhere and the transition from Rohit to Hardik…whether Rohit was happy or not or if he was considered or not. So that is where this feeling is coming,” Gilchirst said on Cricbuzz.
It was Hardik’s comment highlighting how CSK continue to benefit from Dhoni’s inputs, the MI skipper seemed to have asserted that things aren’t the same at MI.
“There’s a man behind the stumps who tells them what’s working,” Hardik had said.
Giving his insights on the statement, Gilchrist said: “That line about Dhoni is interesting. It tells that maybe he is feeling a bit of a lone wolf at the moment. Maybe it is all having a bit of an effect because he is having the feeling that he has not got support around him. But his observation of the opposition is that hang on, he (Gaikwad) has got the support there, an experienced one obviously. It tells me a bit about the mindset of Hardik at the moment and the uncertainty and hesitation in the MI dugout.”
The result sees Mumbai Indians placed 8th in the points table, with just 2 wins from 6 games, while CSK have gone up to 3rd spot.
Topics mentioned in this article
