Credit: X
Former India star bowler Irfan Pathan shared a cryptic post ahead of SunRisers Hyderabad’s clash against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League 2024. In the eighth match of the tournament, SunRisers Hyderabad hosted five-time IPL champions at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and invited the rivals to bat first. Just after the toss, former India bowler Irfan Pathan took to X to share a cryptic statement.
Pathan wrote, “Don’t waste an exciting talent.” While Pathan did not tag anyone, fans were quick to analyse that it was targeted towards the Hyderabad franchise for picking Jaidev Unadkat instead of Umran Malik after T Natrajan was ruled out of the match. During the toss, Cummins said, “It's a tough tournament, the crowd and conditions will help. A couple of changes. Head comes in for Jansen. Natarajan has a niggle, Unadkat comes in. We got a great squad, the 11 or 12 players playing tonight got to give their everything.”
Notably, Umran had a brilliant season in 2022, where he took 20 wickets, and was later drafted into the Indian team after his performance. However, later Malik couldn’t justify everyone’s expectations and was dropped from the team as well as lost his place in the SRH playing XI. After Steyn left the franchise, the young J&K pacer hardly found a place in the squad and has been benched several times.
Talking about the match, Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first. Hyderabad got off to a brilliant start and Travis Head registered the fastest fifty of the IPL 2024. By the end of the eighth over, the Orange Army posted 117 runs at the loss of two wickets.