Mumbai Indians' Batting Strategy Criticized in IPL Opener Loss

Hardik Pandya's decision to bat at No. 7 on Sunday, according to Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard, was a "collective decision" as the five-time winners lost their opening game by six runs despite appearing to be in control of the game.

Surprisingly, Hardik opened the bowling against Gujarat Titans instead of Jasprit Bumrah after Mumbai won the toss and chose to bowl first. Pollard supported this approach as well.

As a team, you must plan and choose what to accomplish. Over the past few years, Hardik has also bowled for Gujarat with the new ball. We were not surprised that he bowled it well and swung the new ball.

"After the game, we move on, and I think there was a good decision made," Pollard stated at the press conference.

When the conversation turned to Hardik replacing Tim David at bat, Pollard stated that the captain couldn't be held responsible for the choice.

We cannot claim that it is his decision because no decision is made with complete autonomy. We had two power hitters to bat in the late innings, and the top order batted well into the game.

"across the years, Hardik and Tim have often completed games for us when you look at it across time.

Thus, any one of them has the ability to revive the circumstance at any time. But that's all in retrospect, and we make decisions as a team, so let's stop saying, "Hardik did this, Hardik made a decision." We work together as a team.

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