Mumbai Indians (MI) have lost another game in IPL 2024 and the pressure is doubling up on the new captain Hardik Pandya. He is facing heat from all ends now. He has become a subject of memes on social media, he is being booed on the ground and the two losses now must have disappointed the management too. Hardik looked calm and composed in his answers during the presentation ceremony but deep down his must be worried with the results.
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MI opted to bowl first on a batting-friendly wicket with a view that they can chase down a target even if it is above 200. They have the batting lineup to pull off such chases. But what SRH did with their bowling was something even MI would not have expected. Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasnd, Aiden Markram and Abhishek Sharma, all joined hands to take SRH to 277 in 20 overs, which is now the highest total across T20 leagues, not just IPL. It, sort of, shows SRH’s one big strength this season, which is their explosive batting.
Hardik appeared out of ideas when he was captaining the team in the middle. The plan to not introduce ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah into the attack straightaway did not go down well with several cricket experts, including former SRH coach Tom Moody and India cricketer Irfan Pathan. Bumrah was the best MI bowler on Wednesday night, giving away just 36 from 4 overs while others leaked runs. He was the only MI bowler on show this night with economy in single digit.
As soon as MI lost the match by 31 runs, memes poured in on social media. Yet again, the target was Hardik, who has lost a lot of trust among fans thanks to his decision to come back to Mumbai, leaving Gujarat Titans. GT fans are upset with him for not showing his loyalty to the fanbase and the franchise while a majority of MI fanbase is angry over him replacing Rohit Sharma as captain. The bad start to the season has not helped his cause either.
Check out how memes trolled Hardik after MI’s second loss in a row:
Hardik Pandya trying to look happy on the ground be like _pic.twitter.com/vtCRX5gRTM
— Indian Elon (@Eloonfraud) March 28, 2024
The captaincy of Hardik Pandya has been ordinary to say the least. Keeping Bumrah away for too long when the carnage was on was beyond my understanding.— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 27, 2024
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Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya is saying that we have a young bowling group (which have Bumrah, Coetzee, Hardik, Chawala).
Meanwhile, captain Rohit Sharma took MI to the semi-finals last year with lord Jordan, Madhwal and Kartikeya.
What an excuse, uff. pic.twitter.com/V0HvHaGi6B— Vishal. (@SPORTYVISHAL) March 27, 2024
Hardik Pandya combined in 10 births can’t achieve 10% of Malinga.
The worst character ever. #SRHvsMI _pic.twitter.com/ErEgyRtRKx— Selfless45 (@SelflessCricket) March 27, 2024
Rohit Sharma fans Knowing MI lost one more match due to Hardik Pandya. pic.twitter.com/BfNlBy55uP
— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) March 27, 2024
SRH fans supporting SRH
MI fans also supporting SRH
RCB fans supporting MI came out of syllabus pic.twitter.com/lFiG6LJpTZ— Troy (@Troy__Story) March 27, 2024
As a result of the loss, MI have slipped further to number 9 in the IPL 2024 points table. They have played both their games away. They play at home finally on April 1 against Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals (RR) and will aim to register their first win of the season.
