Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians have dominated the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League with their impeccable performances in all the department of the game and almost all their stars playing a crucial role in their wins. All thanks to the collective team-work by the Mumbai Indians’ squad that the team was able to reach to the final.
The same team work was once again reflected in the Qualifier 1, where MI were able to pile on a target of 201, with the help of some hard-hitting shots from Hardik Pandya after Ishan Kishan and Surykumar had set the stage on fire with their half-centuries. Later in the match, their batting unit ripped apart Delhi Capitals as Jasprit Bumrah walked away with the figures of 4 for 14 helping his team win the match by 57 runs.
Such dominating performances have helpd Mumbai Indians outperformed all the other teams, however, one thing which was missing from their bowling line has been Hardik Pandya. For the unversed, while Hardik has played a few crucial and match-winning knock for his side, but he hasn’t bowled at all in IPL 2020. And this became one of the most discussed topics in the IPL 2020.
However, putting all speculations to end, ahead of the final clash between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, Rohit Sharma revealed the reason behind the absence of Hardik from the bowling line-up. Rohit revealed that the Junior Pandya hasn’t been comfortabl in bowling and the final call to bowl was left upon Pandya only. He said:
“He is not comfortable at the moment to bowl you know, and we have left all the decision on him. If he feels comfortable he will be happy to bowl, but at the moment, he is not feeling comfortable, he has got some niggle going. So I mean it would have been great to have him bowl but, throughout the season, we have given him that cushion of being in that comfort zone and making sure that he takes care of his body and he has done that really well.”
Furthermore, Rohit Sharma revealed that the team management has kept assessing the progress made by Hardik Pandya without putting any pressure on him. He said:
“We have had his assessment every three-four games and we have spoken to him about what he wants to do. So we don’t want to put that pressure on individuals where we are expecting something from him and he is not able to do it and the team morale goes down, we don’t want that situation. You know Hardik to us is very important as a player and his batting has been really really key for us, making it to the final. So as long as he bats I am happy,”
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya is a part of the teams announced by the BCCI for the limited-overs series in Australia, which will begin in the last week of November.
