Ex-India Players Tear Apart Hardik Pandya After His Cunning Act vs Tilak Varma

The former Indian opening batter, Virender Sehwag, questioned the decision of the Mumbai Indians’ management to retire Tilka Verma on the 19th over of the 200+ run chase against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium.

He reckoned that Hardik Pandya, the MI leader, should have come a bit earlier in the crease and not waited till the end. Sehwag also raised his voice against the all-rounder denying singles to Mitchell Santner, whom the management sent to club the big shots at the end.

Ex-India opener fires up at MI management

Sehwag felt that Tilak Verma, who had played more than 20 deliveries by the time he retired, should have stayed a bit longer to play the rest of the few deliveries.

“I didn’t get it. Why did you retire, Tilak Verma? He had already played 20 balls and it’s ok if he didn't get the shots. In our time, there was no such case. We wanted to make it bad for a few players, but no one thought of it.” The former Indian opener expressed in the Cricbuzz show.

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“They should have called Tilak Verma a bit earlier. Only seven balls were left when they called him back, and Santner took a double on his very first ball. Pandya nailed a six, and he didn’t run on the next two balls, which ended up it dots.” The Delhi opener addressed.

The veteran also highlighted that mentally it would be hard on Verma, who, on every single delivery, kept on trying to nail the big shots even when he partnered with Suryakumar Yadav.

“If he had taken a single and Santner smashed the big shot, then they somehow had got a few runs on the board. Had Tilak Verma played one or two balls more, what would have happened?” Virender Sehwag informed.

“Tilak tried his best. Even when he was with Suryakumar Yadav in the partnership, he was giving his all. But it was not coming, either because of the surface or the balls he got. I think when he was struggling at first, Hardik should have come by then.” The ex-India opener revealed.

Murali Kartik accuses MS Dhoni of Hardik Pandya’s behavior

The former Indian left-arm spinner, Murali Kartik, reckoned that he had no idea behind the logic of sending Santner to nail the big shots if he wasn’t getting an opportunity in any case at the death overs.

“I also do not know of this. If you had sent Mitchell Santner with a strong trust of nailing the boundaries, then why didn’t you take the singles twice? The balls that you missed, he could have nailed them big. In your logic, Santner should have gotten more strikes.” Murali Kartik spilled the beans in the same show on Cricbuzz.

The former spinner felt that it was MS Dhoni who started the trend of not giving back the strike to his partner, and Hardik kept on doing the same in the previous game.

“I think MSD first started it (of not giving the strike back to the partner and taking the charge on its own). Sometimes, as Virender mentioned, if one of the batters doesn’t get the run, you get frustrated from inside. What you have done in the 19th over, you could have done that in the 15th easily. Just think about the batter. Tilak Verma was also frustrated.” The ex-India spinner concluded.

Mumbai Indians fail to chase against Lucknow Super Giants

Mumbai didn’t make a great start with the ball in the powerplay, leaking so many runs without taking any wickets. That put pressure on the spinners in the middle phase of the game.

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The five-time champions started well in the chase, thanks to Naman Dhir, before Suryakumar Yadav extended the knock to a half-century in the game. But with the defeat, they have dropped down to number six in the points table.