Hardik Pandya emphasized on the need to regroup and reflect as a team after the game. He claimed that the Punjab Kings outplayed them and that he has to give credit to them. Mumbai Indians had their moments in the game but Punjab Kings were the better side.
The Mumbai Indians have been handed their fourth loss in the season and their skipper, Hardik Pandya has reflected on their loss. Hardik didn’t have much to say or to be specific at what went wrong. It seems to be one of those phases, where you are just caught up in the moment and can’t really tell how the side is feeling. The Mumbai Indians are an absolute champion side and to see them in this condition is quite unbecoming of them.
“To be very honest, I don't have much to say right now. I think we really need to go back on the drawing board and see where are we lacking. Is it individuals? Is it as a group? Is it as planning? We'll just figure it out and see what we can do next”, said Hardik Pandya during the post-match interview.
Punjab Kings dominate as Mumbai’s flaws deepen, forcing tough questions within the camp
“I think we need to give credit to them as well. The ball started reversing. In the second inning the dew came and it slightly got better but having said that, they just outbeat us. They bowled better, they batted better, they fielded better definitely and that talks to us again,” added Hardik Pandya.
The Punjab Kings were just the better team today and things seemed to be working for them in every department. They executed their plan well with the new ball and at the death as well. The Mumbai Indians had a really difficult time in creating momentum in the first innings, but credit to Quinton de Kock and Naman Dhir for that solid partnership. The Punjab Kings batting could be arguably termed as flawless as except the first couple of wickets, there weren't many risks taken. Shreyas Iyer was dropped towards the end due to a poor shot, but by that time the game already slipped out of the hands of the Mumbai Indians.
“I think we need to see, do we need to make some difficult calls or do we need to keep continuing and hope that we'll turn things around. These are some harsh questions which eventually we need to answer and yeah, ownership has to be taken,” said Hardik Pandya.
Things seem to be changing for the Mumbai Indians as they have had small flickers of hope in the last couple of matches. Today, it was Allah Ghazanfar’s bowling in the power play, when he dismissed both Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly. The century of Quinton de Kock was another positive that would definitely be considered. They don’t seem to be experimenting many things but it is the form of their existing stars that is hurting them the most.
If the Mumbai Indians are to resort back to winning ways, then Suryakumar Yadav will have to step up his game. Jasprit Bumrah is also being played out without much difficulty and these are some serious problems for the side. This could be just a phase for the Mumbai Indians and there aren’t any serious cautions to bench a player or to introduce a new player into the squad.
