'After the game, it's not the right time to go to the players': Hardik Pandya chooses not to criticise fielders for dropped catches after 9-wicket defeat

Mumbai Indians (MI) continued their poor run against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur as they suffered a nine-wicket defeat. While Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler got RR off to a flyer, MI missed a chance to make a comeback as Nehal Wadhera dropped Yashasvi Jaiswal's catch in the 10th over and Tim David dropped Sanju Samson's catch in the 13th over. Despite the defeat, Hardik Pandya chose not to blame the fielders in the post-match presentation. 
 

“After the game, it's not the right time to go to the players, everyone is professional, 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. Within the team, individually, we will have to accept our flaws and maybe work on those,” Pandya told the broadcasters. 
 

Jaiswal was batting on 50 when his catch was dropped and the ball went for a six. Piyush Chawla had dismissed Buttler in the previous over and a second wicket would have helped MI make a comeback. Similarly, in the 13th over bowled by Pandya, David dropped a simple catch which turned out to be the final nail in the coffin. Jaiswal’s second Indian Premier League (IPL) century helped RR chase down 180 with eight balls to spare. 

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Pandya praises Varma-Wadhera

Pandya lauded Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera for helping MI recover from the top order collapse. However, he felt that they failed to finish well and fell 10-15 runs short in the slog overs. 
 

“We put ourselves in trouble early on. The way Tilak and Nehal batted - that was fantastic. I don't think that when we lost a couple of wickets early we thought we would even reach 180,” the all-rounder said. 

 

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Pandya blames bowlers

The 30-year-old blamed bowlers for letting RR openers dominate in the powerplay overs. 
 

“We had to keep it within the stumps (while bowling). Early on in the powerplay, we gave a lot of width and I don't think it was our best day in the field as well. Overall, we did not put the right foot on the park and eventually they outplayed us,” he said. 
 

This was MI’s fifth defeat of the season from eight matches. They are placed seventh on the points table, just above Delhi Capitals (DC) on the basis of net run rate (NRR).
 

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