The Mumbai Indians secured a comfortable victory over the Lucknow Super Giants in the eliminator match of the 2023 Indian Premier League on Wednesday night. Led by Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians defeated LSG by 81 runs in Chennai. After posting a formidable total of 182/8 in 20 overs, MI bowled out the Super Giants for a mere 101 runs, thanks to an outstanding spell by Akash Madhwal, who took 5 wickets for just 5 runs in 3.3 overs.

However, despite the convincing win against Krunal Pandya’s team, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag expressed his disappointment with Rohit’s decision-making during LSG’s innings. Sehwag highlighted a specific moment in the game that left him “upset.”

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In the final over of the Powerplay, Rohit handed the ball to the inexperienced Hrithik Shokeen, and Marcus Stoinis, who had been in excellent form, took advantage of the situation. Stoinis smashed three boundaries (two fours and a six) off Shokeen’s over, resulting in 18 runs being conceded.

Sehwag believed that it was a poor decision to entrust the over to Shokeen and suggested that Rohit could have saved his over for after the Powerplay. Virender  Sehwag explained, “I was upset with Rohit because Shokeen, a young bowler, was targeted by Stoinis, an international player who was well set at the crease. While I understand that Rohit chose the spinner considering there was a left-hander on strike, they had Piyush Chawla, an in-form bowler who has taken wickets this season. The over could have been given to him.”

Sehwag added, “Any other bowler could have probably conceded 6-8 runs. I felt that the pressure was released in that over. However, after the strategic timeout, Krunal Pandya played a shot that resulted in his dismissal, leading to a collapse in their batting order. Despite that, I still believe Rohit made a mistake and should not have given that over to Shokeen. He could have introduced him after the Powerplay when the field would have spread.”

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Krunal’s wicket fell in the 9th over of the innings, triggering a humiliating collapse in the batting order of the Lucknow Super Giants. They lost all their remaining wickets for just 32 runs.