Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder Hardik Pandya said that he finds hitting sixes fun and enjoyed doing it while talking about his swashbuckling innings of 60* off just 21 balls against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Hardik said that 195 was a good total on that surface. “Initially we were looking, when the second strategic time-out happened, we were looking more at 165-170 and obviously we got 25 runs more, which I thought was enough but credit goes to (Ben) Stokes and Sanju (Samson), they really batted well.”
Mumbai Indians were at 121/4 at the end of 16 overs with Saurabh Tiwary at 18 (19) and Pandya batting at 6 (7). In the last four overs, MI scored 74 runs, out of which 54 runs came in the two overs, bowled by Ankit Rajpoot and Kartik Tyagi.
Pandya smashed his fifty off just 20 balls and hit 7 sixes during that assault. However, his innings wasn’t enough for MI to win as Stokes and Samson’s 152-run unbeaten partnership took RR over the line with 10 balls to spare.
“Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition as well, they really batted well. Our bowlers didn’t have much to do. It was their skills and their execution that worked for them.”
Asked about what worked for the RR pair, Pandya said that they took their chances and luck was also in their favour. “With multiple inside edges and outside edges went for a boundary in their luck. Having said that, they played some outstanding shots, which I don’t think our bowlers had much options to do.”
Mumbai Indians, after that loss, have now 14 points in 11 games they have played and are level with Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, but sit at the top due to a better net run rate. Mumbai will now face those two sides in the next two games for the battle of the top two spots.
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