Sanjay Manjrekar said the poor form of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan and Krunal Pandya has hurt MI.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Mumbai Indians should stop following their strategy of the left-right batting combination for some time, given their recent results in the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League 2021.
Sanjay Manjrekar Wants Mumbai Indians To Dump The Left Hand Right Hand Combination For Some Time Being
Rohit Sharma-led defending champions MI lost their third game in succession, with a 54-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday. They are currently languishing in the seventh spot on the points table. Sanjay Manjrekar feels the poor form of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, and Krunal Pandya has hurt MI’s prospects of advancing to the play-offs and suggested that Kieron Pollard must come up in the batting order.
“It’s a pretty unique scenario where they’ve got their three main players- Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and to an extent Krunal Pandya- looking really off-colour. So, they might want to dump the left-hand right-hand combination,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.
“What happened today is because there was always a left-hander in that middle stage as a part of their left-right combo tactic, allowed Maxwell to bowl four overs. The left-hander was there because there was a leg-spinner operating, waiting to make his life difficult,” he said.
Hardik Pandya has scored 55 runs in 8 IPL 2021 games, while his elder brother Krunal Pandya managed only 121 runs and only 3 wickets in 10 outings. The in-form Suryakumar Yadav has managed only 189 runs in 10 IPL games, while Ishan Kishan has scored 107 runs in 8 games. This is in stark contrast to MI’s last season in UAE, where Suryakumar Yadav had scored 480 runs in 16 games, and Ishan Kishan had hit 516 runs in 14 games in IPL 2020.
Sanjay Manjrekar: Maybe Someone Like Confident Kieron Pollard Should Bat Higher Up The Batting Order
Kieron Pollard scored 268 runs in 16 IPL 2020 matches and has amassed 211 runs in 10 IPL 2021 games, averaging about 35. Pollard formed a critical part of the victorious MI squad in the 2020 season, smashing the ball at a strike rate of 191.
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“But Chahal bowled a googly to get Kishan out. So, the leggie has another delivery that will make it tough for the lefty. I would request MI to send batters as per their self-confidence at the moment.
“No point in sending Krunal, who’s feeling the pressure. Maybe someone like Pollard could come up and MI can abandon the left-right combo at least for a couple of games,” Manjrekar added.
Mumbai Indians will next face Punjab Kings on Tuesday, September 28, at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.