Former South African skipper Graeme Smith has lambasted the Mumbai Indians (MI) following their disheartening loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium. The defeat marked the end of KKR’s 12-year wait for a win against MI on their home ground, where they had trailed 1-9 in the head-to-head.
Smith slammed the Hardik Pandya-led side as he deemed MI a ‘confused unit’. He cited the early-season turmoil caused by Hardik Pandya taking over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma as a potential reason for their dismal performances. Smith also proposed a revamped batting lineup, placing Tilak Varma at No. 3, followed by Suryakumar Yadav and Pandya at No. 4 and 5, respectively.
“Hardik has really struggled,” Smith stated on Jio Cinema after the match. “He’s looked like a man under pressure that obviously has created a little bit of turmoil in the environment and who knows how it’s affected people.” Smith continued, “Even their batting lineup, it just looked like they were confused. You know, I think Tilak Varma, Wadhera floating in the middle order. Naman Dhir batting at three tonight—they are moving all over the place. They should have had Tilak at 3, SKY at 4, and Hardik at 5 through the season, David at 6, and then figure out your bowling unit.”
Smith further stated, “They have just been a very confused team this year. It’s been hugely disappointing from one of the mega franchises in this year’s IPL. And you know, a lot of people will be very, very sore tonight—MI fan base and MI camp.”
The South African legend also questioned if MI’s leadership group needed to reassess their squad for the next year. He believed the five-time former champions might need to make some tough decisions and release some players.
“With three games to go in a bigger auction next year, do they need to figure out their squad? Do they need to see some players to say, ‘okay, we’re going to release this player’? You know, like Dewald Brevis has been in the squad now for years, hasn’t really got a consistent opportunity or taking his opportunity either,” Smith concluded.
MI is currently languishing at the ninth position in the points table with a mere three wins from 11 games, making their playoff hopes appear bleak.
