Hardik Pandya backed Tilak Varma after the left-hander came under scrutiny for denying a single to give Tim David the strike in the 17th over of the run-chase against GT today (March 24).

In their opening game of IPL 2024, Mumbai Indians were up against the finalists of last season, Gujarat Titans, at their home ground. Fielding first, MI restricted GT to 168-6, thanks largely to Jasprit Bumrah’s four over spell of 3-13.

During the run-chase, Mumbai were comfortably placed at 107-2 after 12 overs, needing another 62 runs off eight overs with eight wickets in hand. From there, they started losing the plot. Dewald Brevis’ wicket on the fifth ball of the 16th over brought Tim David to the crease with the score reading 129-4.

Shubman Gill, the new GT captain, immediately brought on Rashid Khan from the other end, to target the new batter. He beat David on the first ball, before an attempted slog landed between deep mid-wicket and long on off the next delivery. However, David and his partner, Tilak Varma, ran only a single despite having ample time to come back for two.

The very next ball, Varma flicked a ball on the leg stump towards the mid-wicket boundary and strangely didn’t take a run. He ended up missing the next ball and did eventually take a single off the fifth ball, giving David one ball of Rashid to negotiate. David managed a single off the last ball.

Varma came under criticism for trying to keep the strike against Rashid and shielding David. After the game, Sunil Gavaskar asked Hardik Pandya the reasoning behind Varma’s decision. Pandya said that Varma took the call which he felt was right at the moment and that he had his full backing.

“I think Tilak felt that that was the better idea at that point of time. I completely back him, not an issue. 13 games to go,” Pandya said.

It might have been a call based on matchup. Varma, the left-hander, would have theoretically had an easier hitting arc against the leg-spinner Rashid compared to the right-handed David.

However, the actual numbers between the three players involved tell a different story. Both batters have been dismissed twice by Rashid in T20s, but David has the better average and strike rate against him, which makes Varma’s denial of strike to David all the more strange.

Was Tilak Varma turning Tim David down for a single a case of match-up batting? If so, it was a pretty strange call given the numbers.

Rashid Khan vs
Tilak Varma – 19(16), avg 9.50, SR 118.75
Tim David – 62(45), avg 31, SR 137.77

— Naman Agarwal (@CoverDrivenFor4) March 24, 2024

The three-run over from Rashid made the required rate jump from 9.75 to 12 as MI needed another 36 from the last three overs. As it turned out, David was dismissed in the next over and MI fell short by six runs.

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