"Why does Hardik Pandya bring himself so low in the order - I have no clue" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' IPL 2024 loss to Rajasthan Royals
Aakash Chopra has questioned Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya's batting position in his side's IPL 2024 loss to the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Hardik scored a run-a-ball 10 as MI set RR a 180-run target after opting to bat first in Jaipur on Monday, April 22. Sanju Samson and company chased the target down with nine wickets and eight deliveries to spare to hand the visitors their fifth defeat in eight games.
Reflecting on the Mumbai Indians' batting in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that Hardik batted too low.
"Why does Hardik Pandya bring himself so low in the order - I have no clue because he is doing wrong. You can criticize him for scoring 10 runs off 10 balls but I believe you are coming at the wrong number. Hardik Pandya is not the kind of batter who scores 30 runs off 10 balls," he said (3:35).
The former India opener added that the all-rounder needs to get his eye in before playing the big shots.
"Hardik Pandya is the kind of batter who, if he scored 10 runs off 10 balls at the start, can score 75 off 40 after that. He will have to give himself time. He will have to come up the order, which he is not doing. I feel the resources could have been utilized slightly better. He pushed himself too low, which, in my opinion, wasn't a great thing to do," Chopra noted.
Hardik walked out to bat when the Mumbai Indians were 151/5 after 16.1 overs. He hit just one four before he missed an Avesh Khan full toss and was dismissed leg-before-wicket.
"Rohit was once again dismissed by Trent Boult in the first over" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' bad start
![Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a five-ball six. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/04/17455-17138467130000-1920.jpg?w=500)
Aakash Chopra noted that Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav's cheap dismissals had earlier put the Mumbai Indians behind the eight ball.
"If you win the toss and bat first, you need to score runs and a lot of runs. For that, you need to have a good start. However, both the openers were dismissed. Rohit was once again dismissed by Trent Boult in the first over. Ishan Kishan fell prey to Sandeep Sharma at the other end. Then Surya also got out," he said (1:50).
While praising Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera and Mohammad Nabi for resurrecting the Mumbai Indians innings, the reputed commentator added that the five-time champions failed to make the most of the last two overs.
"Tilak Varma played extremely well. He scored a half-century. Nehal Wadhera played very well. Nabi played well for some time. You said these guys brought the team back into the game. 200 was possible at one stage. However, that did not happen because six runs came in the 19th over and the 20th over was another economical over," Chopra observed.
Varma (65 off 45), Wadhera (49 off 24) and Nabi (23 off 17) helped MI recover from 20/3 to 151/4. However, the visitors managed only 28 runs in the final four overs, including nine in the last two, to be restricted to a below-par total.