MI vs RR: Irfan Pathan Takes Aim At Captain Hardik Pandya - "Always Want Your Leader To Do Difficult Things"

Add as a preferred source on Google

Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has once again taken a swipe at Mumbai Indians' under-fire captain Hardik Pandya following the five-time champions third successive loss in as many games in the ongoing IPL 2024.

In the first game of the season at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Hardik was booed throughout the match as MI suffered a 6-wicket defeat to Rajasthan Royals on Monday (April 1).

Following a disastrous start that saw former skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis all back in the dugout, leaving the score at 20/4, Hardik had the chance to win over the crowd over with the bat, but failed to convert a start, falling for 34 off 21 balls.

Pathan has been critical of Pandya's leadership on multiple occasions during the ongoing season, and seemed to take another dig at the under-fire skipper for throwing his wicket away in the recent encounter.

Although the former Indian all-rounder did not mention any name in his cryptic posts on social media, it was suggested by fans that he was targeting Pandya.

"Ppl who understand the game well know this. If you are set, you got to see the team thru," Pathan posted on X during the Mumbai Indians innings, which could have also been in reference to Tilak Varma, who was dismissed for 32 off 29.

Many Mumbai Indians fans, especially the Rohit Sharma supporters, have been angry ever since Pandya was handed over the captaincy ahead of the season. Hence, Pandya has been booed from sections of the crowd during MI's matches.

The 30-year-old had the chance to win back some of the fans during RR's run chase, but he dropped a catch of Jos Buttler and the boos got louder at the Wankhede Stadium.

However, the skipper answered the cry of members in the cricket fraternity and fans as he brought on Jasprit Bumrah in the second over of the match instead of delaying the ace pacer's introduction.

Irfan Pathan also had his say on Bumrah being brought in early only because Mumbai Indians had posted 125/9 in their allotted 20 overs in their first match at home.

"Not a rocket science to get your best bowler early on. Finally Bumrah with the new ball. It was forced cos of small total by RR," Pathan added in another post on X.

After Riyan Parag's fifty helped Royals chase down the target with 27 balls to spare, Pathan once again posted a cryptic tweet, taking aim at Hardik Pandya's captaincy.

"You always want your Leader to do the difficult things. If he doesn't do it he won't earn his team's respect," Pathan further posted before ending the night with another post that read, "It's called➡️ Calling as it is..."

Following the match, Pandya also admitted that his wicket allowed Royals to take control of the game even more and added that he needs to do a lot more with the bat.

"Yes, a tough night, we didn't start the way we wanted to start. I wanted to counter, we were in a decent position to get us around 150-160, but my wicket allowed them to get back more into the game, I needed to do a lot more," Pandya said in a post-match presentation.

Having lost to Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad and RR, Hardik and Mumbai Indians will hope to end the winless run when they next take on Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday (April 7).