What happened the last time Hardik Pandya played for MI at the Wankhede Stadium?
Hardik Pandya will return to the Wankhede Stadium in a new role later tonight (April 1). He will lead the Mumbai Indians (MI) on home soil for the first time in his IPL career against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) tonight.
Pandya has led MI in two matches of IPL 2024 so far, where the team suffered defeats against Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad away from home. The MI squad have now reached Mumbai for their upcoming home fixture against the undefeated Rajasthan Royals team.
MI will find it quite challenging to defeat RR, considering the recent form of the two franchises. However, Mumbai Indians fans will have high hopes from captain Hardik Pandya because of his last performance as an MI player at the Wankhede Stadium.
Hardik Pandya helped Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 9 wickets at Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2019
The last time Hardik turned up for the Mumbai Indians in a home match at the Wankhede Stadium was against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on May 5, 2019. The star all-rounder won the Man of the Match award for his impressive spell of 2/20 in three overs.
Mumbai Indians kept the Kolkata Knight Riders down to 133/7 in 20 overs despite a 29-ball 41 from Chris Lynn. Hardik bagged the crucial wickets of KKR openers Lynn and Shubman Gill to ensure that Mumbai had the upper hand in the contest.
Robin Uthappa hit three sixes but managed only 40 runs off 47 balls. Nitish Rana also hit three sixes in his 13-ball 26. However, the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell and Rinku Singh could not impress much.
For MI, Mitchell McClenaghan bowled a clinical spell of 0/19 in four overs. Lasith Malinga was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/35 in four overs. Jasprit Bumrah also chipped in with two wickets, while Krunal Pandya conceded just 14 runs in his four-over spell.
Hardik Pandya did not bat in his last match for MI at Wankhede Stadium
Chasing a target of 134 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Indians won the match by nine wickets in just 16.1 overs. Openers Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma stitched up a 46-run opening stand. After de Kock lost his wicket to Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav came in and hit a 27-ball 46 to guide MI home.
Captain Rohit led the Mumbai Indians from the front with an unbeaten half-century. Interestingly though, the Man of the Match award went to Hardik Pandya for his two wickets and one catch.
Talking about Hardik's last innings as an MI player at the Wankhede Stadium, the all-rounder scored a 10-ball 18 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 2, 2019. Almost five years later, Pandya will enter the Wankhede Stadium in the Mumbai Indians jersey again, but this time he is the team's captain.
It will be interesting to see if the new MI skipper can lead the team to their first win of IPL 2024. The match between Mumbai and Rajasthan will begin at 7:30 pm IST.