Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder, Hardik Pandya is yet to bowl in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 due to a shoulder niggle that he picked up during the final ODI against England, said Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene on Monday. He has been playing as a pure batsman or the defending champions.
Talking about Hardik, Mahela Jayawardene said, “We were looking forward for him to be bowling this season… he was coming back from an injury already, I believe he picked up niggle after those matches against England. We don’t want to risk it, because it is important that we make sure that he (Hardik) is in a position to comfortably come in and bowl.”
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He further added, “So hopefully in the next few weeks, with a bit of work and all that, we might see him bowling. It is not that we are deliberately trying to not bowl him, we would love to have him bowling, but as soon as the niggle is off and he is comfortable, we should be able to use that asset as well.”
The 27-year-old from Baroda, however, has been in the thick of things as during the last game against SRH, he affected two key run-outs, dismissing David Warner and Abdul Samad, which helped MI to register a 13-run.
Talking about Hardik further, Jayawardene said, “We have always used Hardik on the boundary line because of his speed and he has a good throwing arm and his catching ability. Last few games, because he has a niggle in the shoulder, we kept (him) in 30 yards and he has proved the value of that by picking up a few runs-outs because he is agile.”
Mumbai Indians middle-order misfired in their last game but Mahela Jayawardene reckons that it was just an off day for them and he was overall happy with the performance.
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Jayawardene explained, “Overall, we are very happy, but knowing Rohit, he will push the guys, every-time that we haven’t hit those marks, he will bring that up and he wants us to improve and that is the team culture that we have. We have been consistent with that approach, it is challenging, but our bowlers have adapted pretty well.”
