Dale Steyn and Hardik Pandya. Photo- X
Dale Steyn and Hardik Pandya. Photo- X

Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya has been under severe pressure as his team lost another match in the IPL 2024. This led to former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn taking a dig probably aimed at the MI skipper for his attitude after consecutive losses in the ongoing tournament.

This loss of MI came at the hands of Rajasthan Royals, who defeated them by 9 wickets in Jaipur. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 104* as RR successfully chased down 180-run target in 18.4 overs.

Apart from Mumbai’s failure with bat, ball, and in the field, Pandya had a dismal performance himself, scoring 10 off 10 balls and then conceding 21 off his two overs.

After the match, Hardik Pandya was asked about his team’s failure and the skipper was his usual calm self in the post-match interview. Pandya grinned and responded that it was not the appropriate moment to criticize the players because everyone on the squad was a professional.

“I really look forward to the day players might say what’s honestly on their mind”- Dale Steyn

Hardik Pandya grinned and responded that it was not the appropriate moment to criticize the players because everyone on the squad was a professional. The MI captain kept to his normal match analysis, claiming that players knew their tasks but were unable to execute them throughout the game.

“Overall, we did not put the right foot on the park and eventually they outplayed us. After the game, it’s not the right time to go to the players, everyone is professional, and they know their roles. What we can do is learn from this game and the mistakes which we have made, rectify it and make sure that we don’t make it. Progression is very important,” Pandya said.

“Within the team, individually, we will have to accept our flaws and maybe work on those. I don’t believe much in chip and chop, I like to back players and the focus would always be to play good cricket, sticking to our plans and making sure that we don’t make the basic errors. Cricket is simple, as long as we keep it simple, it’s nice,” the MI captain further added.

However, Pandya’s safe answer irked Dale Steyn. He was irritated with players using phrases like ‘trusting the process’, and ‘sticking to basics’, the usual cliches that float around in the cricketing world.

“I really look forward to the day players might say what’s honestly on their mind. Instead, we somehow dumbed ourselves and our minds into saying the usual safe thing, lose the next game, smile and then repeat that nonsense somehow,” Steyn said after the RR vs MI match on Twitter.

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