“Need to be bit more disciplined, show courage”: Hardik Pandya

Despite suffering consecutive three defeats in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya showed confidence in his side to turnaround their campaign in the ongoing tournament and said the five-time champions need to “show a lot more courage.”

Riyan Parag’s blitzkrieg left MI bamboozled as the Rajasthan Royals (RR) sailed to their third consecutive win in the IPL 2024 with a six-wicket triumph over the five-time champions on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium.

Parag played spoilsport in Pandya-led MI’s team homecoming, who are still hunting their first win of the season. On a field that is known for some of the highest-scoring games, the hosts succumbed to 125/9, leaving RR to chase down a paltry target of 126.

With three out of three losses, Mumbai has once again lived up to its tag of being a conventional slow beginner in the IPL. The Pandya-lead side suffered defeats against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad and were mauled by the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batters in their following game.

Pandya scored the highest for the MI with 34 off 21 deliveries, while Tilak Varma played a crucial knock of 32 runs in 29 balls, taking MI to 125/9 after Rajasthan bowlers absolutely bossed Mumbai batters in their homecoming match.

“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. It’s okay, we didn’t expect such a surface, but you can’t always have it as a batter, it’s nice at times for the bowlers to have a say. It’s all about doing the right things, (correct) results happen at times, at some other times it doesn’t,” Pandya said in a post-match presentation.

The captain said his side needs to be more “disciplined” for the upcoming matches and do better.
“As a group, we believe we can do a lot better, but we need to be a bit more disciplined and show a lot more courage,” he added.

Mumbai will look to turn around the fortune when they take on Delhi Capitals at their home ground, Wankhede Stadium, on Sunday.