During their IPL 2024 encounter against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday, March 27, Mumbai Indians (MI) veteran Rohit Sharma appeared to be taking up field setting duties from skipper Hardik Pandya.
In a video that went popular on social media, Rohit Sharma was seen repositioning the fielders and seemingly instructing Hardik to go deep near the boundary zone. In MI’s last game against the Gujarat Titans (GT), a film of Hardik sending Rohit over the boundary went viral, and fans were ecstatic to see the footage again on Wednesday.
Here’s the video:
The SunRisers Hyderabad had an absolute field day with the bat, scoring a remarkable 277/3, setting a new record for the highest team total in tournament history.
MI’s Fielding Debacle Puts Hardik Pandya’s Captaincy in Question
Tim David dropped Travis Head on Hardik Pandya’s opening ball, putting the Mumbai Indians on the back foot. It proved to be a costly blunder, as Travis Head reached his half-century in only 18 balls and annihilated the Mumbai assault in the powerplay.
Abhishek Sharma stepped out to bat at No. 3 and added salt to the wounds by breaking Head’s record for the quickest IPL fifty for SRH, reaching his half-century in only 16 balls. In such conditions, Hardik Pandya’s decision to hold back Jasprit Bumrah, who had just bowled one over for five runs, appeared even more strange.
Heinrich Klaasen top scored with an incredible 80 off 34 balls and shared 116 runs with Aiden Markram, propelling the SunRisers to a record-breaking 277/3. The outcome appears to be a formality, as the Mumbai Indians will need something truly extraordinary to even come close to the SunRisers’ total.
