Former India player Irfan Pathan slammed Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya after the team’s loss against KKR on Friday 3 May. Playing at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai failed to chase down 170 runs as they were bowled out for just 145 as well. Pathan criticised Hardik Pandya for his captaincy after the game and lost it from a winning position as well.

Speaking on his Instagram channel after the conclusion of the match, Pathan said, “Mumbai Indians’ story is finished in the IPL 2024. They were a very good team on paper but they have not been managed well. Questions on Hardik Pandya’s captaincy are absolutely valid. Today when KKR were 57/5, you bowled 3 bowlers of Naman Dhir. You bowled your 6th bowler, let KKR form a crucial partnership between Manish Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer. The 83-run partnership took KKR to 170 when they should have only got to 150 and that turned out to be the point of difference.”

However, Irfan Pathan argued that in cricket the value of a captain mattered a lot and the biggest talk of the season for Mumbai Indians was that many probably had not accepted the captaincy change as well. Pathan also added that MI were not playing as a unit which could be an indication that groups were forming in the team as well.

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“Cricket is a game where captaincy and management is crucial and MI at the moment are not playing as a team and that’s the biggest talking point of the season for MI. It is important for the players to accept their captain and I don’t think it has happened for MI this season,” Pathan further added.

A similar argument was made by former Australian player Michael Clarke as well just ahead of MI’s KKR game.

“Yeah, I don’t know they will make it to the playoffs. I think it’s wishful thinking for Mumbai this entire IPL. “I think there’s a lot more going on than what we are seeing on the outside, and you can’t have that many good players and perform this inconsistently,” Clarke had said on Star Sports. “So, I think there are different groups inside that changing room and something is not working, they are not gelling together, they are not playing as a team.”

MI are currently placed at the 9th in the points table with 6 points from 11 games as well.