Mumbai Indians’ (MI) newly appointed skipper & flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya would be roaring to make a mark. Hardik Pandya was injured in the middle of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 which was a huge blow to the combination as BCCI couldn’t find a like for like replacement which hurt the team immensely.
Hardik Pandya shifted his base from the puissant Gujarat Titans (GT) to the 5 time IPL winner Mumbai Indians (MI) via the transfer window which was quite shocking and unexpected. We should not forget that GT won their maiden title that too under the leadership of Hardik Pandya where he & GT’s head coach Ashish Nehra were seen formulating strategies.
It was a freak injury- Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya was seen having an interaction with Star Sports. Hardik Pandya in the discussion stated that the injury which he sustained during the ODI WC 2023 was a freak one and said that he got injections in ankle in 3 places. Hardik though later said that he was eager to be with the national team but unfortunately he wasn’t able to make steady progress as a result he was ruled out for 3 months.
“I had prepared for the World Cup for a year. It was a freak injury that was said to be for 25 days which means I would miss the rest of the World Cup, but I pushed. I told the management I would return in five days. I got injections done in my ankle in three places. I had to remove blood from my ankle because of the swelling,” said Hardik Pandya.
“At one point I knew that if I kept pushing I could be injured for a long time, but that was just not the answer for me. Even if there was one percent chance that I could be with the team, I would do it. I had a reoccurrence which eventually became a three-month injury,” he added.
Uphill challenge for Mumbai Indians
MI have a very bad habit of losing matches on the bounce, like 5 on the bounce and with Rohit Sharma no longer skipper (*still a part of MI and leadership group), it will be interesting to see how Hardik Pandya tackles such kind of scenarios which most likely are bound to happen as MI are a bit slow starters.
MI needs someone like Tim David to take responsibility of finishing the matches the transfer of Cameron Green to RCB was quite confusing as well. We have seen in the past how Tim David has won ‘n’ matches in the franchise circuit as he not only has got brute power but has got a wide range of shots which makes him a dangerous finisher.