One interesting statistic that accurately depicts Hardik Pandya’s much-discussed captaincy is how often he opens the bowling. Before taking on the captaincy, he led the attack just six times in 92 IPL matches. He has bowled first 17 times out of 33 matches since taking over the reins in 2022, including the opening two games in the 2024 Indian Premier League.
The recent decision to use Jasprit Bumrah for his second over in the 13th over of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s innings highlights this peculiarity. The Mumbai Indians gave up the highest IPL total—277 for three—in this match. Lasith Malinga, an IPL veteran, is among the support personnel, but it appears that the team’s bowling approach is untested. Since the beginning of the IPL 2023, MI has, for the record, the worst economy rate out of the 10 teams.
Yes, things were a little different that day. However, he was acting in that moment as your captain, acting in the way the team believes is best for the team. Jasprit has typically pulled one odd over on the power play, one in the middle, and a few overs during the death. The majority of bowlers, both on our team and the opposing team, went for runs. That’s how the game was, then. The MI spinner Piyush Chawla defended the bowling adjustments by saying, “The surface was like that.”
In addition to the dubious bowling changes, some of the batting decisions have drawn criticism. For example, Tilak Varma’s decision to shelter Tim David from Rashid Khan in the opening match appeared unusual, as did Pandya’s choice to bat at No. 7, presumably to avoid facing Rashid Khan, a move that Pandya’s Baroda teammate Irfan Pathan urged.
It makes sense that Mumbai has lost both of their opening games, but MI’s defeats in those games are also not unusual. They have done that and been here. They have the resources to recover, especially if they are playing four straight games at home. However, they need definitely examine their tactics before playing the Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede on Monday night, especially with regard to bowling.
With every aspect of the side operating, the visitors have enjoyed a wonderful start to the season. The team’s investment in Riyan Parag is paying off, and Sanju Samson has been a very wise captain. The two Indian pacers, Avesh Khan and Sandeep Sharma, have performed well as well as R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. Indeed, Trent Boult has always been Trent Boult.
The main area of concern for the Royals might be Jos Buttler’s form, who strangely recorded the most ducks ever in a single edition last year with five, and has only managed to score 11(9) and 11(16) so far this season. The club management will stick with the English captain for the time being because of his caliber and experience, but they may bring Tom Kohler-Cadmore on at some point in the season.
When: March 29, 19:30 IST, Mumbai Indians vs. Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2024
Where: Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium
What to anticipate: The chasing team won five of the seven games played at the Wankhede last year, thereby compelling the captain who won the toss to bowl first. Given the history of great run chases at the site, the game ought to be high scoring. Monday night cannot be any different.
Head-to-head: 12 RR – MI 15. MI leads 5-3 at the Wankhede. At this same site, RR nearly defeated MI the year before, but they were unable to hold on for 212/7, Tim David showing off his excellent finishing ability.
Group Vigilance
Indians from Mumbai
Injury and availability: All players are available, with the exception of Suryakumar Yadav, who is receiving rehabilitation at the NCA.
Strategies and Match-ups: MI will likely prefer to stick with Jasprit Bumrah in the PowerPlay to get early leads, and not many changes to the starting lineup are anticipated.
The probable starting eleven are: Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka, Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, and Hardik Pandya (c).
Royals of Rajasthan
Injury and availability: Every player is available, and no injuries have been reported.
Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma, and Avesh Khan are the likely members of the playing eleven.
Strategies and pairings: It’s improbable that the Royals will alter their winning combination. They would anticipate using Trent Boult, who is renowned for delivering early breakthroughs, to attack Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan.
Were you aware?
– Together with Mohali, Wankhede had the joint-highest average first-innings score (198) among all the venues that saw at least five IPL 2023 matches.
– Buttler recorded five ducks last year, the most for any player in a single season, and has so far recorded scores of 11(9) and 11(16) in his two IPL 2024 outings. This comes after he won the Orange Cap in RR’s runners-up finish in 2022.
– After losing his first two games as MI’s captain, Hardik is back at Wankhede, where he has appeared in 35 of the team’s 125 IPL games.
What they expressed:
Everybody is unique; Hardik and Rohit both have their own styles of leading the team. As everyone is aware, Hardik is one of the accomplished captains from GT, who qualified for two finals in two years.” – Piyush Chawla
“Momentum, in my opinion, is everything in this competition and T20 cricket. While winning every game is your ultimate goal, it’s more important to play well and establish a winning streak. The season has started off well for both of us. We had a strong start to the competition the year before, but things didn’t exactly work out as planned.” – Trent Boult
