“Saw such bad bowling after many days” – Sunil Gavaskar
Mumbai Indians lost the match when they were in a position to win against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings. In this match, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar was extremely upset with the team leadership and bowling by Hardik Pandya. He has criticized Hardik’s tactics. In this match, Hardik Pandya gave away as many as 26 runs in the last 20th over. Mahendra Singh Dhoni changed the picture of the match by hitting Hardik for three huge sixes in a row. Dhoni hit 20 runs in four balls off Hardik’s over. Looking at the outcome of the match, these runs were the cause of Mumbai’s defeat.
Sunil Gavaskar said, “After many days I have seen such bad bowling. After a long time indeed. Hardik knows he has the kind of bowling that Dhoni will hit for a six. A six is fine. How to justify that next time you bowl another length ball. When the batsman is looking for a length ball. Hardik also bowled the third ball, a length ball. Dhoni hit a six. Hardik’s bowling was completely normal bowling”. Sunil Gavaskar described the last over in the words of a truly ordinary captain.
Mumbai Indians scored 186 for six. Chennai won the match by 20 runs. Had Dhoni not scored these 20 runs, the result might have been different. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dubey took Chennai past 180 but Dhoni’s sixes pushed the score past 200. In the end, this difference was decisive. Rohit Sharma celebrated the first century of this IPL season. But even Rohit’s century could not give Mumbai Indians a victory. His century was in vain.
