Mumbai Indians’ (MI) newly-appointed skipper Hardik Pandya is unfazed despite a six-run defeat by the hands of Gujarat Titans (GT) in their IPL 2024 campaign opener on Sunday (March 24).
Chasing 169 runs to win the competition, Mumbai had been in the pole place and the favourites to clinch the competition as they wanted simply 42 runs in the final 5 overs.
However, Gujarat made a outstanding comeback in the sport and restricted Mumbai to simply 162 on the finish.
“Obviously we back ourselves to chase those 42 runs (in the last five overs) but it was one of those days where we see the score quite less in those last five overs, we lost a bit of momentum there,” Pandya mentioned through the post-match presentation.
“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.”
Notably, this was MI’s twelfth consecutive loss in their match of an IPL season since 2013.
Hardik additionally touched upon an incident that was progressively turning into some extent of rivalry. Interestingly, Tilak Varma refused to run a single on the third ball of the seventeenth over bowled by Rashid Khan whereas batting with Tim David.
When the MI skipper was questioned concerning the incident, he mentioned that Tilak felt it “was a better idea at that point in time” and backed him for making that decision.
“I think Tilak felt that was a better idea at that point of time. I completely back him. Not an issue, (we have) 13 games to go,” mentioned Hardik.
On the opposite hand, the successful captain (*13*)Shubman Gill heaped reward on his bowlers for executing their plans splendidly on the demise despite the dew issue coming to hang-out them.
“I feel the best way the boys held their nerves and the best way we bowled in the demise overs, particularly with the dew coming in, I assumed it was particular.
“With the dew, how the spinners bowled, they made sure we stayed in the game. It was all about putting on the pressure,” mentioned Gill.
