Only three days ago did Hardik Pandya learn that he will be vice-captain of the Indian team at the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, but there has been no change in his fortune as the captain of the Mumbai Indians franchise since that development. On Friday (3 April), Pandya-led MI suffered their fourth consecutive defeat at the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL), losing out to Kolkata Knight Riders by 24 runs.
Albeit they had only 170 runs to chase – a fairly modest total at the Wankhede Stadium, where dew facilitates run-scoring in the second innings – the five-time champions were bowled out for only 145 runs. Pandya could not lead the batting unit by example, scoring only a solitary run.
This is Mumbai’s eighth defeat of the season in only 11 matches, and their playoffs chances are all but obliterated. However, Pandya stated that whilst he does not have answers to Mumbai's problems currently, he is not willing to leave the battlefield anytime soon.
There are a lot of questions, but those will take time to answer. But for now, there is not much to say. You keep fighting. That is what I keep telling myself – never leave the battlefield. Tough days can come, but there are also good days. It's challenging, but you take the challenges, they make you better.Hardik Pandya
A major reason behind the defeat to KKR, which was also their first loss against the two-time champions at the Wankhede Stadium since 2012, was the consistent falling of wickets.
Highlighting the fallacy, Pandya added:
In the batting innings, we couldn't form partnerships and kept losing wickets. If you don’t form partnerships in T20s, it will cost you. Bowlers did a fantastic job on this track. The wicket got better after the first innings. Dew came in the second innings. We will go through the game and see what we could have done better.Hardik Pandya
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