Hardik Pandya Under Fire: Mumbai Indians' Story Ends? - Irfan Pathan Speaks Out

Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians lost again to Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.

Mumbai Indians chances of making it to the play-offs are increasing. The team has only managed three wins in 11 matches and will now rely on other teams performing well and winning all remaining matches to earn a play-off spot this season.

MI and KK match

MI lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 24 runs in another poor game at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Sharma and captain Hardik Pandya were again absent. No batsman could affect the team, which suffered its eighth defeat this season, except Suryakumar Yadav (56).

Indiatoday reported, Following the defeat, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who had been abusing Hardik’s batting management and poor form throughout the season, launched a new campaign for the entire match, claiming that he did not get “Respect” from his opponents.

He took two consecutive deliveries from MI skipper Dhir and scored 8 and 11 runs respectively. Irfan believes that Hardik allowed Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey to form partnerships without taking any of their key players away when the opposition was weak.

Look at the video here:

Irfan Pathan exposes Hardik Pandya Captaincy 🗣️-

"Mumbai Indians solid team on paper not managed well by their captain again. This Complete team failure on this loss." pic.twitter.com/oIdW97Chao
— 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐢𝐢⁴⁵ (@rushiii_12) May 3, 2024

What Irfan khan said

“Mumbai Indians’ story ends here. This team was so good on paper, but it wasn’t managed. The questions that were raised on Hardik Pandya’s captaincy were absolutely right. When you’ve restricted KKR to 57/5, you didn’t have to give Naman Dhir three successive overs. You had to bring your main bowlers, and you gave your sixth bowler three overs. Manish Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer posted a strong partnership. You could’ve bowled them out on 150 instead you let them score 170,” Irfan said.

What’s next for Mumbai Indians?

In the next encounter, they will face a rematch against Sunrisers Hyderabad, who broke the IPL record for most goals scored when the two teams met for the first time earlier this season (SRH later broke the record against RCB). The next two matches will be played against KKR and Lucknow Supergiants.