Rohit Sharma-led MI lost their third game in succession, with a 54-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday, and are currently in the seventh spot on the points table.
Rohit Sharma-led MI lost their third game in succession, with a 54-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday, and are currently in the seventh spot on the points table.
Manjrekar feels the poor form of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan and Krunal Pandya has hurt MI and suggested that Kieron Pollard came up the batting order.
“It’s a pretty unique scenario where they’ve got their three main players- Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and to an extent Krunal Pandya- looking really off-colour. So, they might want to dump the left-hand right-hand combination,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.
“What happened today is because there was always a left-hander in that middle stage as a part of their left-right combo tactic, allowed Maxwell to bowl four overs. The left-hander was there because there was a leg-spinner operating, waiting to make his life difficult,” he said.
“But Chahal bowled a googly to get Kishan out. So, the leggie has another delivery that will make it tough for the lefty. I would request MI to send batters as per their self-confidence at the moment. No point in sending Krunal, who’s feeling the pressure. Maybe someone like Pollard could come up and MI can abandon the left-right combo at least for a couple of games,” Manjrekar added.
