Hardik Pandya’s captaincy woes have carried on to even IPL 2025, as several key blunders cost MI the game.
First of all, playing the uncapped and highly inexperienced Satyanarayana Raju despite his woeful performance in the first game, as he got smacked yet again, this time for 40 runs in 3 overs, taking only the wicket of Rashid Khan in the very end which did not make any significant impact towards the ultimate result of the game. Vignesh Puthur had played brilliantly, securing the best bowling figures an IPL debutant ever has. Dropping him despite that and picking the underperforming Satyanarayana Raju is absolutely deplorable decision making from Pandya, without which the game could’ve gone very differently. Playing Mujeeb was the right choice, as although he got smacked, he picked up the important wicket of the highly potent Jos Buttler, minimising the damage he could’ve done, as he is a world class batsman.
Dropping a player who performed spectacularly for an underperforming one is utterly absurd and inadmissible. However, the off-putting blundering doesn’t stop here, as Pandya made several appalling decision during the run chase as well. Choosing to play the uncapped Robin Minz who has ZERO experience, for a second game in a row and in such a high pressure situation is incomprehensible bungling from captain Hardik. He was dismissed for yet another mediocre score of 3 off 6, after his 3 off 9 in the previous game. There were better impact player options with more experience than him, such as Shrijith Krishnan, who had a decent T20 average and could be made into a star if managed properly, which the Mumbai Indians have done for many players over the years.
Then choosing to send the inexperienced and underperforming Naman Dhir immediately after Minz’s dismissal added salt to MI’s wounds as he played too slowly and failed to hit any big shots, only managing to swing his bat in vain to most deliveries. In such a situation, we have often see an all rounder from the tail of the batting order be promoted and rescue their team with their finch hitting. Sending Deepak Chahar or Mitchell Santner in such a situation was very desirable as both of them have achieved feats of pulling off such high pressure chases for their teams, and are reputed for batting aggressively, especially in such situations.
This shows Pandya’s lack of knowledge about his own players and lack of quick thinking and improvisation, which is a core aspect of captaincy and helps teams compete with their opponent and put up a fight in situations like these. Choosing to send two uncapped players one after the another, instead of trying new things, taking chances, making changes and showing trust in key players to help put up a fight and comeback, rightfully cost MI their win.
Another nauseating aspect of MI’s performance yesterday was their passive and defensive batting throughout their innings. They kept playing safe and waiting for the right moment and right deliveries to hit shots, which never came. To win, one needs to take risk. Not taking risk is the biggest risk in T20. In crunch situations like these where aggressive hitting is needed, there are always only two options – hit or get out. Playing passively and hoping easy deliveries will come is a cowardly and amateur way to play cricket, which is what Gujarat’s bowling lineup took advantage of and kept bowling difficult and well planned deliveries, according to weaknesses of different players, such as Suryakumar Yadav struggling to hit slower deliveries.
It is far more respectable to lose while taking chances, to lose all wickets trying to hit, than to play test cricket in a T20 game and try to score while staying safe. T20 is not that kind of a format, which is common sense a captain should know. As a matter of fact, captain Pandya himself was most defensive, scoring an appalling 11 off 17 deliveries. This shows his inability to take risk and play T20 like it should be played, and lack of trust in his batting order, as two aggressive all rounders were still there, MI still had a chance even if Pandya got dismissed trying to score quickly, or who knows he could’ve landed some boundaries if he actually went for it like a hard hitter should. He wasted precious deliveries for Mumbai which killed all their chances as by the time Santner came and started hitting a few shots, it was already too late. Had he, or Chahar, or BOTH come earlier, the outcome could’ve been different.
Despite his glow up in international cricket, his captaincy woes in IPL have continued, not to mention his glow up in intl. cricket was not of captaincy, but performance. His random, absurd and inadmissibly preposterous decision making on and off the field – choosing the playing XI, impact subs, batting lineup and promotions; have gone to shown how truly incompetent he is for the role of captain.
Mumbai Indians was doing much better with Rohit Sharma as their captain, who mentored and shaped class players effectively and made brilliant decisions over the years to help MI win 5 trophies and be one of the most dominant IPL teams. Even if he does not return as captain, I seriously advise the team to take advice and notes from him, to learn from him. I wouldn’t say the same for Pandya, because he is too dense a captain to learn. Mumbai needs to change their captain immediately, to someone who can actually learn even if they are inexperienced.
Mitchell Santner would be a great option as he is the captain of New Zealand’s cricket team, and although inexperienced, can learn a lot through Rohit Sharma. He is also a very dependable all rounder and has the potential to lead by example. Jasprit Bumrah can also be a good fit, and Suryakumar Yadav too, despite his mistakes in the first game against CSK, as he may have learning potential. One game is too soon to judge and he could do better, especially with Hitman’s guidance.
Unless Hardik Pandya can truly learn from his bungling and become an actually great captain like he used to be in Gujarat Titans, he should be removed from captaincy immediately. He clearly showed his potential while leading Gujarat, but seems to have literally forgotten cricket after entering MI, in captaincy, and even in batting in this recent game.
