Ahmedabad. In the first match of the Indian Premier League, there was a lot of talk about the new captain of Mumbai Indians, Hardik Pandya. Some of his decisions were criticized but the team came out clean on it. Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard supported Hardik Pandya’s decision to open the bowling in place of Jasprit Bumrah. Also said that it was a collective decision to send the captain to bat at number seven in the match against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Mumbai adopted a strange strategy regarding batting and in the match in which at one time it was moving towards victory, in the end it had to face defeat by 6 runs. Earlier, Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bowl first and Hardik started bowling in place of Bumrah.
Pollard said, “You have to make a strategy and decide what you want as a team. Hardik had also bowled with the new ball for Gujarat in the last two years. He swings the new ball and bowls well, so there is nothing new in it. We tried to take advantage of the swing of the new ball. When you look at his decision, there is nothing wrong in it.
Regarding sending Hardik to bat at number seven, Pollard said that it was not just the captain’s decision. He said, “No decision is taken with complete autonomy, so we cannot say that it was his decision.” As a team, we had our own strategy and we also discussed the batting order. We take decisions as a team, so it would not be right to say that Hardik took the decision or Hardik did it. We are a team and we take decisions collectively.
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Tags: Hardik Pandya, IPL 2024, Kieron Pollard
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 26, 2024, 17:42 IST