‘It is crime’: MI captain Hardik Pandya’s no-nonsense verdict on his no-ball fiasco against GT

MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya classified the no-balls that he bowled, along with his other compatriots, were a “crime” in the aftermath of their three-wicket defeat by the DLS method against Gujarat Titans in a pulsating encounter at the Wankhede Stadium.

In the heated playoffs race, rain tried to cool things off in Mumbai’s favour as the hosts stood five runs ahead in DLS, as it rained cats and dogs after the 18th over. While MI relaxed in the dressing room, the Titans looked raring to go when the opportunity presented itself.

The weather gods left enough on the clock to allow a one-over contest to settle the winner of the nervy fixture. GT needed 15 runs off the final six deliveries, and Mumbai had only four fielders outside the inner ring after being penalised for slow over rate.

Deepak Chahar was handed the responsibility of seeing off the fixtures. He conceded a four and then a towering maximum to bring the equation down to five runs in three. He allowed the nerves to get the better of him and bowled a no-ball, which left the entire momentum in GT’s favour.

Apart from Deepak’s ill-timed no-ball, Hardik was the culprit of crossing the white line twice in his 11-ball eighth over. Apart from their no-ball fiasco, MI was guilty of dropping Gujarat skipper Shubman Gill’s catch on the second delivery of the 12th over. Shubman toed his shot off Ashwani Kumar, and Tilak Varma sprinted towards the landing zone but floored the opportunity.

Hardik reflected on the close calls after the gripping affair which brought an end to their six-match winning streak and said, “Catches did not really cost us, but the no-balls, with my no-balls and even in the last no-ball, in my eyes in T20s, it is a crime and more often than not, it bites you. But I am really happy with the boys for giving their 120 per cent, ensuring we were in the game and not giving up.”

Mumbai put in a spirited bowling display after a shambolic run with the bat. The top-stars floundered but Will Jacks (53), Suryakumar Yadav (35) and Corbin Bosch’s (27) power-packed performance, riddled with luck propelled MI to 155/8.

Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult bowled in tandem and pulled the game back for MI. Bumrah cleaned up Gill and Shahrukh Khan. While the seasoned Kiwis left-armer pinned Sherfane Rutherford in front of the stumps.

Hardik acknowledged that his side fell 20 to 30 runs short of putting up a competitive total but sang a verse in the praise of his bowlers for their valiant display.

“Yes, definitely (tough way to go down). We fought well with the total we had. Most of the time, we were out of the game, but we pushed as a group. It was a game of margins,” he said.

“It was definitely not a 150-wicket. It was a 175-wicket, we were short in batting by 20-25 or maybe 30 runs if we had batted well. Credit to the bowlers. They kept fighting, and we could not finish the job,” he added.

The entire fixture was clouded with halts due to constant intervention of rain. While Hardik acknowledged that the constant stoppages weren’t ideal but they had to get on with the game.

“The ground, in the first innings, was not wet, but post that, throughout, the ball kept getting wetter. Not sure if it helped us or not, it was difficult. Rain kept coming in, not ideal to have stoppages and start again. But the game goes on, we had to play a game (in the end), and we definitely did,” he concluded. (ANI)