Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya talked about the defeat against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He acknowledged that they could have chased down the target and praised MS Dhoni for making a difference in the game for CSK. MI experienced their fourth loss of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with a 20-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings at their home ground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. They didn't perform effectively with both bat and ball and struggled for most of the game.

MI Fans Are Slamming Hardik Pandya For Praising Dhoni After The Defeat

MI's bowlers struggled, conceding 206 runs, with skipper Hardik Pandya taking 2 wickets but having an economy rate of over 24. Only Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Nabi kept their economy rates below 8. Ruturaj Gaikwad (69), Shivam Dube (66), and MS Dhoni (20*) shone with the bat for Chennai Super Kings, helping them reach a total of over 200 despite early wickets. Mumbai Indians started well with Ishan Kishan (23) and Rohit Sharma (105*) adding 70 runs. However, no other batter provided significant support to Rohit, who scored a blistering century. MI ended with 186 runs but lost by 20 runs. Matheesha Pathirana was the standout bowler for Chennai Super Kings, taking 4 wickets for 28 runs in his 4 overs, shifting the game in favor of his team.

Hardik Pandya ran all the way to meet and Hug MS Dhoni 💛 pic.twitter.com/1VzWJ8ugNh

— 🎰 (@StanMSD) April 14, 2024

Later, after the match, Hardik Pandya acknowledged that the inclusion of Matheesha Pathirana altered the game's dynamics and mentioned that the entire Chennai Super Kings team executed their plans effectively. Speaking about the same during the post-match presentation, he explained:  "It (target) was definitely gettable, but they bowled pretty well. Pathirana was the difference. They were smart with their plans and their approach. They got the hang of it, there's a man behind the stumps (Dhoni) who tells them what's working, and that helps. It (pitch) was holding up a bit and getting difficult. It was about batting well and keeping the intent."  Hardik Pandya admitted that they should have experimented with different strategies during the game. He also discussed his plans regarding Shivam Dube and emphasized the importance of maintaining high intensity moving forward. He said: "We were going quite well (in the run chase) till Pathirana came into the attack and took those two wickets. It was about what was best at that time, we could have done something different. I like to play percentage cricket, it would have been difficult for him (Dube) against seamers rather than spin. We are on the road for the next four games, need to play good cricket, need to keep the intensity high."  Meanwhile, Hardik's statement, where he praised MS Dhoni for guiding his team, didn't go down well with the fans of Mumbai Indians, who are now trolling him left, right, and center. There were many who slammed him for disrespecting Rohit Sharma, who would have done the same for his team as well. Check out the reactions of the fans: Mumbai Indians will next face Punjab Kings on Thursday (18th April).