IPL 2024: Steve Smith also slams Hardik Pandya's captaincy - 'Perplexed, I mean you can't have...'

Add as a preferred source on Google

IPL 2024: Steve Smith slammed Hardik Pandya's captaincy and questioned his decision to give Jasprit Bumrah just one over until the 13th over of the match. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) posted 277 runs - the highest ever total in the history of IPL, in the match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday, March 27.

Left perplexed by Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya's tactics in the record-breaking IPL loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad, former Australia captain Steve Smith has said he cannot fathom why premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah bowled just six deliveries up until the 13th over of the match.

Bumrah was the second-most economical bowler in the match, after SRH captain Pat Cummins (2/35), conceding 36 runs in his four overs which did not yield any wicket. Hardik Pandya assigned uncapped Kwena Maphaka the responsibility to bowl the first over, and took the onus to bowl the second over on himself.

''I was perplexed with some of their bowling changes in the first innings for Mumbai. Bumrah bowled in the fourth over, he went for 5 and then we didn't see him again till the 13th over when they were on 173,'' Smith told host broadcaster 'Star Sports'.

''All the damage had been done, you needed your best bowler to be coming back and take some wickets in that period and I think they missed a trick there bringing him back only in the 13th over,'' he pointed out.

''I think he got a few things wrong, and that was the main one for me. I mean you can't have one of the best bowlers in the world bowling one over.'' Smith said Bumrah's late reintroduction into the attack rendered him ineffective.

''When the ball is going around like that, you've just got to bring your best bowler back earlier than you would have liked. It's just about adapting on the go and I'd have almost bowled Bumrah out by the 15th, 16th over, try to get some wickets, if he gets wickets, you slow the rate down anyway.

''If the guy is batting at the end, doesn't matter who is bowling, we saw that really with Bumrah in the last two overs and he still got smacked with the bat at the back end,'' he explained.

''So if he came back earlier and had taken some risks, things would have been really different and they got 277 and they could have been reduced to 240 and might have chased those down, so I was just perplexed that he bowled only one over up until the 13th over.'' Smith said it's hard to make sense of the power-hitting contest the match turned out to be.

''...38 sixes in total, the ball was just going all over the place. It was an incredible game.

Another former cricketer Brian Lara lauded SRH's Abhishek Sharma, who smacked a 23-ball 63.

''Abhishek Sharma is one of my favourite young batters...He can hit it, he's not a big muscular guy, but when he hits the ball it stays hit. I think his was a special knock today,'' he said.

(With PTI Inputs)