Former Australia captain Aaron Finch said that Hardik Pandya has been drained amid MI’s challenging campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. His comments came after losing to Shreyas Iyer’s KKR by 24 runs on Friday, May 3 at the Wankhede Stadium. With their eighth defeat this season, MI are placing below in the table with 6 points and a net run rate of -0.356. Moreover, Hardik’s own performance has not been top-notch either as against KKR, he scalped 2 wickets, but gave away 44 runs in his quota of 4 overs. With the bat, he scored 1 run off 3 balls as well.

“He looks flat at the moment, he looks drained. He looks like someone who is feeling the pressure. I feel for him as I know what it feels like to be in that situation. Everything that you try doesn’t seem to work and when the team is not performing well, that’s a really difficult place,” Finch told Star Sports.

“It’s one thing when you are not performing, but your team is winning. That’s something you take pride in as a captain. But you wear all the responsibilities of your own performance and also of the team and it’s an incredibly hard place to be in, particularly in this competition,” Finch again said.

However, Aaron Finch also shared that the home team should win the match in favourable batting conditions in Mumbai as well. Chasing a target of 170, MI were bowled out for 145 in 18.5 overs as well. MI will next play against Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers on Monday, May 6.

“You would expect them to chase 170 when dew is forming in at the Wankhede. It’s a beautiful place to bat generally. Yes it was a bit uncharacteristic in the way it turned a bit more, and was a little bit more two paced than what we have seen in the past,” Aaron Finch concluded.