Mumbai Indians' struggling run in the ongoing IPL 2024 is not ending and captain Hardik Pandya has now openly criticised Tilak Varma for lacking 'game awareness' after a 10-run loss against Delhi Capitals at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.
Pandya won the toss and invited the home side to bat first in the evening match. Opener Jake Fraser-McGurk's 27-ball 84 studded with six sixes and 11 fours combined with cameos from Tristan Stubbs (48*) and Shai Hope (41) guided Delhi Capital to 257/4, their highest-ever IPL total.
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In the chase, Mumbai Indians lost their top three - Rohit Sharma (8), Ishan Kishan (20) and Suryakumar Yadav (25) - inside the powerplay. Tilak and Pandya hold the fort for the side with a 71-run partnership for the fourth wicket. The captain departed after scoring 46 off 24 balls while Tilak's valiant 63 in 32 balls ended on a run out in the final over of the innings. Mumbai were required 25 runs off the final over to win the match but fell 10 runs short of the target.
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After the conclusion of the match, Pandya blamed MI's top-scorer Tilak for not firing against Axar Patel.
“(When) Axar was bowling to a left-hander (Tilak), the better option could have been to go after him. I think it was just a little game awareness that we missed out. At the end of the day, that cost us the game," Pandya said in the post-match presentation.
Hardik was referring to the eighth over of the game, when left-arm spinner Axar Patel was brought into the attack. At that point, MI were 72 for 3. Axar bowled two overs in the match and gave 24 runs without a wicket. Tilak, the left-hand batter, faced six balls out of the twelve that he bowled. Tilak, however, decided to take just singles on the opening four balls that he faced against the spinner.
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It is important to remember that Tilak helped Mumbai reach 115 for 3 at the ten-over mark by hitting a six and a boundary later on Axar's second and also the last over of the match.
“The way the games are going and how the bowlers are under pressure throughout the competition, we backed ourselves to do it, the self-belief (was there). But if I have to pinpoint, a couple overs in the middle, we could’ve taken some extra chances,” Pandya added.
With three wins in nine games, Mumbai Indians have very slim chances of making it to the playoffs with only five matches remaining in the league stage.