Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya has backed Tilak Varma’s decision to deny a single to Tim David despite being in a crunch situation against the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League 2024 season. They lost the match by six runs on Sunday, March 24 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The Mumbai Indians failed to chase down 169 runs in the match. Umesh Yadav defended 19 off the final over to take his team to a victory. During the match, Tilak Varma’s decision to deny a single to Tim David left many surprised. The incident took place during the seventeenth over of the innings. Tilak turned down a single off Rashid Khan. When asked by Sunil Gavaskar about the decision at the post-match interview, skipper Hardik Pandya backed his team-mate. He said,
“I think Tilak felt that that was a better idea at that point of time, I completely back him, not an issue, 13 games to go.”
We lost a little bit of momentum: Hardik Pandya
The Mumbai Indians seemed to be on the right path to victory against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. They needed 43 runs off the last five overs, at a required rate of around 8.6, with a well-set Dewald Brevis at the crease. However, Mohit Sharma sent Brevis back to the pavilion in the next over for 46 runs. The Mumbai Indians lost the momentum thereafter, handing Gujarat Titans a win.
‘We backed ourselves to chase those 42 runs but it was one of those days when we see the score quite less compared to what it could have been in five overs, I think we lost a little bit of momentum there,” said Hardik Pandya.
Earlier in the match, Gujarat Titans put 168 runs on the board, with Sai Sudharsan top-scoring with 45 runs. He also won the Player of the Match award for his knock. Meanwhile, the bowling attack pulled things back well for the Titans as Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Spencer Johnson and Mohit Sharma took two wickets each.
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