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Walking in to bat in the fourth over with his team in a disastrous 20-4including three first-ball ducks, the time was perfect for new skipper Hardik Pandya to win back the hearts of the Mumbai Indians fans.
Having been booed by the spectators during toss and while walking in to bat, Pandya in his first match as MI skipper at the Wankhede after suffering defeats in two away matches in the previous week, threw away the golden opportunity.
Though Pandya played attacking shots, striking six fours in his 34 and shared 56 for the fifth wicket with Tilak Verma, the captain fell when the innings was not even 10 overs old. The boundaries that Pandya scored were cheered by the spectators as they meant vital runs for MI, but the opportunity to score big and take MI to a competitive total was lost. He skied leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to wide long-on.
Also Read: IPL 2024, MI vs RR: Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by six wickets
Having been put into bat, MI managed only 125-9, their third lowest total v RR in IPL. It was a missed opportunity on a pitch that was a typical Wankhede surface, having good bounce early on that New Zealand left-arm pacer Trent Boult (3-22) exploited. Boult dismissed Rohit Sharma first ball for the former MI skipper’s 17th nought in IPL career and Naman Dhir next ball leg before in the match’s fifth and sixth deliveries.
In what was the quickest instance of an Impact Player substitution being effected with South African Dewald Brevis pressed into service in the second over in place of the dismissed Dhir, the move did not yield the desired result. Brevis became the third batsman to fall first ball, caught at backward point off Boult in the third over.
Left-handed opener Ishan Kishan watched wickets fall in succession. He flicked and swung left-arm pacer Nandre Burger for boundaries, but fell to the same bowler.
If it was Boult’s impressive opening spell of 3-0-14-3 inside Power Play, it was Chahal’s miserly 4-0-11-3 in the middle who contained the MI batsmen from scoring freely.
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