Hardik Pandya and legendary Sachin Tendulkar took up the responsibility of lifting the dressing room morale at Mumbai Indians after the 5-time champions slipped to their second successive defeat in the IPL 2024 season. Mumbai Indians lost to SunRisers Hyderabad by 31 runs in a record-breaking IPL match as an aggregate of 528 runs and 38 sixes were hit at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday. SunRisers broke an all-time IPL record for the highest total, posting 277 on the board and Mumbai Indians came up with a valiant chase, managing 246 in reply.
It was a tough night for the bowlers in Hyderabad as none of them were spared from the carnage. Mumbai Indians’ 17-year-old fast bowler Kwena Mapahaka conceded 66 runs on his IPL debut while seasoned campaigner Piyush Chawla was taken down for 34 runs in 2 overs. Even the best in the business, Jasprit Bumrah, conceded 9 runs per over. SunRisers bowlers fared better only by a small margin as their captain Pat Cummins put the brakes on, proving to be the difference between the two bowling attacks.
Mumbai Indians headed into the competition under a bit of pressure after the surprise change in captaincy and the start to the season has not gone according to plan for Hardik Pandya and his men. Conceding 277 runs in 20 overs only made matters worse as a section of fans are fearing an ordinary season for the Mumbai Indians under their new captain.
However, Hardik Pandya led the dressing room speech on Wednesday evening in Hyderabad and tried his best to boost the morale of the team.
“The toughest soldiers get the toughest test and we are the toughest team in the competition. Anyone who could have come even close to where we reached as a batting group are us.” Hardik said in a video shared by Mumbai Indians.
