Hardik Pandya Blames Bowlers After Mumbai Indians’ Second Straight Loss

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya on Tuesday blamed the bowling unit for the team’s defeat against Rajasthan Royals, calling it the key reason behind their second consecutive loss this season.

Mumbai Indians lost their second consecutive match in this IPL season. Hardik Pandya's team was completely outclassed in the match against Rajasthan on Tuesday night. Mumbai captain Pandya said that the bowling unit is fully responsible for this defeat. He said that they would have had a chance to win if they had bowled at least five good balls.

"Our team's defeat was not the fault of the batsmen. Since the target was high, we needed to play big shots from the first ball. However, we did not perform well in bowling. Our bowling team, including me, failed. The bowling unit is responsible for this defeat. They should have prevented sixes from going in at least five balls. Then Mumbai Indians would have had a chance to fight," Pandya said.

"Rajasthan Royals played a great game. Their openers took the game away from us in the first two overs. After that, we tried to improve our innings, but we fell behind," said Hardik.

Mumbai lost by 27 runs in the match, which was reduced to 11 overs due to rain. Batting first, Rajasthan scored 150 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.

Mumbai's senior bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Shardul Thakur, and Deepak Chahar conceded runs heavily. Pandya's team was limited to 123 runs in the chase.