Hardik Pandya Brutally Reminds Mumbai Indians Stars About 'Game Awareness' After Delhi Capitals Defeat

Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya said he wanted batters to take chances in the middle overs and claimed MI were backing themselves to chase down the score in the end against Delhi Capitals (DC) at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday. Fraser-McGurk equalled his own record for the fastest fifty in IPL 2024, smashing 87 off 27 balls to lay the groundwork for a massive total. DC scored 257 in 20 overs, with cameos from Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant, and Tristan Stubbs. MI seemed to be always behind the chase, and Tilak Varma's brave effort was insufficient as Delhi prevailed by 10 runs. MI suffered their sixth loss of the season, jeopardising their playoff ambitions significantly.

Speaking after the match, Pandya stated that the game was becoming increasingly close.

"This game is becoming more and more closer. It (the difference) used to be a couple of overs, now it's becoming a couple of balls. Because of the kind of games and how the bowlers are under pressure, we backed ourselves to do it. If I had to pick something out, we could have taken a couple of more chances in the middle overs," Pandya said in a post-match presentation.

Pandya defended the decision to bowl first in their loss to DC on Saturday. Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first because he wanted to know what target they would be chasing. However, the plan quickly backfired, as DC got off to a flying start thanks to Jake Fraser-McGurk.

"The left-handers could have probably gone after Axar a little bit, it's something we missed out on in terms of game awareness," Pandya said.

Pandya went on to compliment Fraser-McGurk on his knock and stated that he would not have altered anything about the toss.

"It was quite amazing the way he (Fraser-McGurk) batted,