Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has returned to training after missing their previous Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
It was a last-minute thing since there was no prior news of him not playing. Only when, instead of him, Suryakumar Yadav joined DC captain Axar Patel on the sidelines before the toss, it became clear that Pandya wasn’t playing. Surya then informed Pandya was unwell. The Indian all-rounder was terribly missed in the game as MI, who went into the match as overwhelming favourites, left the venue as a deflated side.
MI are now in Guwahati for their next game against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, and on Sunday night, Pandya looked as if he had not taken ill the day before. After the warm-up, he practised bowling yorkers. Then he batted for a while, and for the large part of it, his bat made a nice sound, with batting coach Kieron Pollard nodding his approval nearby. Sounds like a bad omen for Rajasthan Royals, no?
MI were forced to make a couple of changes to their XI that had beaten Kolkata Knight Riders comfortably in their season opener. Deepak Chahar and South Africa allrounder Corbin Bosch were brought in, and New Zealand legend Trent Boult had to make way to facilitate Bosch’s entry.
Delhi brought down Mumbai a peg or two!
Frankly, the loss at the hands of Delhi would have rattled MI no end. This was the match they were expected to win. In fact, nobody gave Delhi a chance in the lead-up to the match. Which was understandable. Last year. Mumbai had beaten Delhi in both their matches.
Since 2022, they had won five times and lost just two against DC. Then their win in the 2020 final had cowed Delhi into total submission in terms of their rivalry. At 21-16, they had enjoyed a better overall head-to-head before the match, but they failed to do justice to those numbers.
After being put into bat, they came up with a sub-standard batting performance, putting just 162 on the board, and although they appeared to claw back into the game after reducing the hosts to 7/2 at one time, thereafter they failed to kill the game as Sameer Rizvi stole it from them with a fantastic 90.
Pandya not playing indeed compromised them. Not only does he strengthen batting and bowling, but he also increases the morale of the side through his ever-confident attitude. Come Tuesday, MI should be a better side with him returning to their ranks.