Former South Africa cricketer Graeme Smith said Mumbai Indians (MI) have been a “very confused team” team this year in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The Mumbai-based franchise lost by 24 runs to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium. While speaking at JioCinema, Smith said it is “disappointing” to see MI’s performance in the 17th season of IPL. “They just been a very confused team this year. It’s been hugely disappointing from one of the mega franchises in this year’s IPL. And, you know, a lot of people will be very, very sore tonight – MI fan base and MI camp,” Smith said.
While commenting on MI skipper Hardik Pandya’s performance, the former cricketer said that the bowling all-rounder has struggled till now in IPL 2024. He further added that MI looked “confused” while playing against KKR.
“Hardik has really struggled. He’s looked a man under pressure that obviously has created a little bit of turmoil in the environment and who knows how it’s affected people. But even their batting lineup, it just looked like they were confused. You know, I think Tilak Varma, Wadhera floating in the middle order. Naman Dhir batting at three tonight they are moving all over the place. They should have had, Tilak at 3, SKY at 4 and Hardik at 5 through the season, David at 6 and then figure out your bowling unit,” he added.
Recapping the match, put to bat first, a solid partnership stand of 83 runs between Venkatesh Iyer (70 off 52) and Manish Pandey (42 off 31) guided KKR to 169. For MI, Jasprit Bumrah returned with a double-wicket over before ending with a spell of 3 for 18 in 3.5 overs.
In reply, MI were bundled out for 145. Starc made a terrific comeback in the tournament returning with a figure of 4-33, handing KKR a 24-run victory. Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine both finished with identical figures of 2/22, including some big wickets in the first half of the chase which put KKR on top in the match.
Following the win, KKR stand in second place on IPL 2024 standings with 14 points. Meanwhile, MI hold ninth place with 6 points by their name.
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