Hardik: “The batters need to step up, hopefully soon.”

Hardik Pandya, the captain of the Mumbai Indians (MI), has a few leaks to fix as the team is 0/2 in the 2025 Indian Premier League. He expressed his concern that his team has been making “basic errors” and that his batsmen have not yet joined in the celebration following Saturday’s 36-run loss to Gujarat Titans (GT).

MI allowed the opposition to get out to a quick start on an Ahmedabad pitch that slowed down as the game went on. Hardik believed MI was already down after Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan scored 66 runs in the powerplay.

“They batted brilliantly,” Hardik remarked during the presentation held after the game.

“They both batted in a very remarkable manner. They didn’t take any chances, you know. They set good limits. They made the correct decisions. I believe they were able to score those runs in the powerplay without taking any risky shots. We went a little [behind] as a result, and I believe we were playing catch-up after that.

They chose a black-soil surface for the match because it “fits our batting and bowling more than the red-soil wicket,” according to GT skipper Gill. In essence, the host team chose conditions that made it difficult to strike the ball through the line.

When MI batted, they sensed that. Hardik faced 17 deliveries for just 11 runs after entering the game at the end of the 13th over. He responded, “Definitely, I was just thinking that,” when asked if GT had taken note of his own bowling effort, in which he took pace off and achieved success (2 for 29).

They could see that it’s gripping, so perhaps I bowled way too many balls. Considering that some of the balls were bouncing, some were gripping, and some were shooting down, I believe those were the hardest balls on this wicket. As a batter, I believe it becomes challenging when there is this much fluctuating bounce or variation.

In their opening match in Chennai, MI also had to contend with challenging conditions, managing just 155 runs in a game where the ball gripped somewhat.

“There should not be a concern [about the batting] but at the moment I think it is time,” Hardik stated. “I mean, it’s [early] and we all need to own responsibility. At the same time, though, I believe that batters must attend the celebration. Indeed, let’s hope they arrive soon.

MI’s next game will be played at home, where batting conditions should be considerably better. On Monday, they play the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).