Hardik Pandya‘s captaincy came under the scanner during the SRH vs MI clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad today (March 27) as the home team got off to a record start, with star bowler Jasprit Bumrah conspicuous by his absence.

Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field in Hyderabad as the home side named Travis Head in the XI in place of Marco Jansen. Head, returning to the IPL for the first time since 2017, started off with a bang.

He hit debutant Kwena Maphaka for a boundary in the first over of the innings, before hitting another off Pandya in the second. It was in the third over, however, that he teed off properly, smoking Maphaka for two sixes and two fours off the last four balls of the over.

Bumrah came on to bowl in the fourth over of the innings, conceded just five, and was surprisingly not seen again till the 13th over even as Head combined with Abhishek Sharma to take SRH to a scarcely believable 173-3 inside 12 overs.

Gerald Coetzee was given the sixth over of the powerplay, considered one of the toughest, and he ended up conceding 23. Pandya brought on Piyush Chawla after that, but the veteran leg-spinner was taken to the cleaners by Abhishek, who hit three sixes in his first over.

Coetzee finally got Head out in the eighth over of the innings for 62 off 24, brining former captain Aiden Markram to the crease. Pandya then brought himself on for the next over, presumably to slip in a quiet over after the fall of a wicket, but ended up conceding 11.

Bumrah’s absence through SRH’s whirlwind start befuddled everyone watching, including the pundits. Tom Moody, former SRH coach questioned the absence of Bumrah, while Irfan Pathan called out Pandya’s “ordinary captaincy”. Some pointed out if MI end up losing this game by a big margin, it will make their play-offs qualification scenario extremely tough, given the impact on their net run rate.

SRH posted 277-3, the highest total in all domestic T20 cricket.

Where is Jasprit Bumrah?? Game nearly done and your best bowler has only bowled ONE over! #SRHvMI

— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) March 27, 2024

The rest of this match has huge implications for MI’s season.

Their NRR could take a huge beating today, making it far tougher to qualify with an 8-6 record.

They could potentially need to go 9-3 in their remaining 12 games to qualify.

— Dan Weston (@SAAdvantage) March 27, 2024

Could it be possible that Bumrah doesn’t concede a single boundary in this kind of game? He hasn’t for 13 balls already. #SRHvMI

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 27, 2024

Who in the Mumbai Indians’ dugout decides that Jasprit Bumrah won’t bowl first up with the new ball? Or that he will bowl just 1 over in the first 10?
I mean, look at the score: SRH 102-1 in 7 overs! And Bumrah’s howled just one over. #MIvSRH

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) March 27, 2024

Jasprit Bumrah is extraordinarily good at the death, but only giving him one of the first 12 overs, when the opposition are 173-3, is just holding back the best T20 quick bowler in the world until it's much too late

— Tim Wigmore (@timwig) March 27, 2024

Never seen MI look so hapless in the field. SRH have gone berserk batting first

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) March 27, 2024

The captaincy of Hardik Pandya has been ordinary to say the least. Keeping Bumrah away for too long when the carnage was on was beyond my understanding.

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 27, 2024

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