Sunil Gavaskar feels that Krunal Pandya has been better than Hardik Pandya so far

The Mumbai Indians are considered to be slow starters. In the past, they have come back from five losses to winning the tournament. They are the most successful team in the IPL with three titles. The fortunes of Mumbai rely heavily on Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya who are the senior most players in the side. All teams are stacked up almost equally in the tournament and Mumbai cannot expect to make a comeback every season.

Rohit Sharma’s men have lost the first three games in the final over. They remain top for most of the match but things are just not working at the back end of the innings. Hardik Pandya hasn’t been at his best in both the departments. Sunil Gavaskar has stated that an intelligent Krunal Pandya has started IPL in a better manner for the Mumbai Indians than his fan-favorite brother Hardik Pandya.

Hardik needs to take charge

Pandya has scored just 22 runs with a strike rate of 104.34 and has conceded runs at an economy rate of 9.33. The ace Indian all-rounder has been the triumph card for Mumbai Indians in the past two seasons but has failed to deliver this season. If Hardik performs, the whole MI setup starts looking more dominant. The team’s fortunes rely heavily on the allrounder.

“Teams now know not to bring a spinner on when Hardik Pandya is batting, for he can smash them out of the ground. However, he does not find the seamers that easy to belt and so he will be confronted by most captains. Mumbai also must look at their tactic of bringing him on when the field restrictions are in place, for he can be expensive than his brother,” wrote Gavaskar in his column for TOI. Krunal has scored 67 runs with the bat and has conceded runs at a good rate of 6.2.

“Krunal has been impressive with his canny left-arm spinners and down the order, he keeps his cool and gets runs at a good clip without hitting the big sixes that his younger brother hits,” wrote Gavaskar. The Mumbai Indians next face the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede. If they are not at the top of their game, they will have to wait longer to register their first points.

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