Dubai: In the opening two matches of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, it was a surprise to many fans that Mumbai Indians did not use their all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s bowling in their first two matches.
Hardik, who had sustained an injury following the last World Cup, has returned to action after a long break batting his back injury. However, Hardik started full-scale training earlier this year and was also seen bowling to India nets before the Mumbai ODI against Australia. Thus, it has surprised many to see Hardik never bowled for Mumbai Indians.
Now Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene finally revealed the reason behind it. “Hardik is coming back from an injury. So we will have to be mindful of that but he is looking very good in the nets,” Jayawardene said during MI’s virtual media conference on Thursday (September 24).
“We have used him (Hardik) in different roles in the past and we will look into that. We have quite a number of other players who can fit into that role as well, so whenever the opportunity is there we ask anyone to finish the game off. It doesn’t just fall on Hardik but it is one of his responsibilities, so we want to try and challenge players in different ways in this camp, so we will continue to do that,” he said.
