Kieran Pollard, the batting coach for the Mumbai Indians, supported Hardik Pandya’s decision to start bowling against the Gujarat Titans, saying that it was a “collective decision” rather than the all-around player making it alone. Interestingly, Hardik chose to open the bowling even though players like Gerald Coetzee and Jasprit Bumrah were there, but that didn’t work out very well for the cricketer.
After he proved to be costly, Bumrah joined the attack and took the first wicket of the game in the fourth over. The recently chosen captain opted to bat at number seven, placing himself lower in the order even though Mumbai had a strong chance of winning the match. The visitors lost by six runs as a result of his decision to shift Tim David up in the order.
Speaking about the choices, Pollard said Mumbai sought to exploit the great all-rounder’s ability to swing the new ball. He also said that the team management supported the choice and played the game in accordance with it.
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As a team, you must plan and decide what you want to do. For Gujarat, throughout the past few years, Hardik (Pandya) has also bowled with the new ball. We knew he would bowl it well, but he swung the new ball. We made an effort to take advantage of the new ball’s swinging motion. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with the choice made, and we should move on. NDTV cited Pollard.
Collectively, we have plans: Kieran Pollard
The former all-rounder for the Mumbai Indians, who was defending his batting spot, reiterated that the team management was in agreement and said that any of Tim David and Hardik will finish games for MI this season.
We cannot assert that a decision is his because no decision is made with complete autonomy. We talk about establishing hitter entry spots; as a team, we have plans. In addition to our two back-end power hitters, the top order batted well into the game. Tim (David) and Hardik have typically closed out games for us throughout the years, if you look at it that way,” the seasoned hitter continued.
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