Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar questioned Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya’s generous bowling to Chennai Super Kings veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni in match 29 of IPL 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Hardik conceded 26 runs in the final over of the CSK innings with Dhoni smashing an unbeaten 20 off 4 balls cameo that included 3 successive sixes and a double of the last delivery. Those 20 runs was the difference in the end as MI fell short of the target of 207.
Pandya, a big admirer of the former Indian captain, bowled length balls and full toss on the legs like in a charity match to Dhoni, who is regarded as the best finishers of the game and possibly playing his last season in the IPL.
Gavaskar did not hold back as he slammed Hardik for his “ordinary bowling and ordinary captaincy” and also referred to the pre-match interaction that Hardik and Dhoni shared ahead of the match.
“Probably the worst kind of bowling that I’ve seen for a long, long time. It almost looks like I’ve had this embrace with my hero. I’ve got to be bowling kind of deliveries that he’s gonna hit for sixes,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports Cricket Live.
“One 6 is fine. The next one again a length ball when you know that this batter is looking for a length ball to hit. The third ball again, a full toss on the leg side and he’s looking for it and hits it for a 6. Absolutely ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy.”
Already facing flak for taking over the captaincy from fans, Pandya’s role as the skipper was questioned by Gavaskar as he felt MI should have restricted CSK to under 200. “Oh, absolutely ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy. They should have been restricted despite the fact that Ruturaj Gaikwad had batted so well along with Shivam Dube. I do believe that they should have been restricted to 185-190,” Gavaskar added.
