MI vs RR IPL Live Score 2024: Hardik Pandya seeks home comfort for first win as Mumbai Indians captain

MI vs RR IPL Live Score 2024, Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals: Winless Mumbai Indians take on Rajasthan Royals in their upcoming IPL 2024 fixture, at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. MI is currently bottom of the standings after two matches, in stark contrast to RR’s form. RR is third with two wins in two matches. To make matters worse, Hardik Pandya’s return to MI has not gone according to plan. Pandya returned to MI in a shock transfer before the auction last year, and immediately replaced Rohit Sharma as captain. The decision wasn’t well-received by fans, but it was expected to work out, considering Pandya’s captaincy stint with Gujarat Titans. He was released by MI in 2022 and joined GT, who made him captain. He led them to the title in their debut season, followed by a runners-up finish in 2023.

But in MI, Hardik has been looking lost at times, and his leadership is also being questioned. In 92 IPL matches before becoming captain, he opened the attack only six times. But since captaincy in 2022, he has opened the bowling 17 times in 33 matches, and also in the opening two IPL 2024 fixtures. His decision to also call Jasprit Bumrah for the 13th over of SRH’s innings backfired as MI conceded the highest IPL total of 277 for three.

Although, MI veteran Piyush Chawla rushed to his captain’s defense and justified the changes. “Yeah, that day the things were a little different. But at that particular time, what your captain, what the team feels is the best for the team, he was doing that. Most of the times we have seen Jasprit pulling one odd over in the power play and then one in the middle and a couple of overs in the death. Most of the bowlers, not only from our team, even from the other team, all went for runs. So the game was like that. The surface was like that,” he said.

Meanwhile, they have been underperforming on the batting front too. Former captain Rohit has not been able to capitalize on his strong starts. Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan’s only positive performance was against SRH, but he failed to prevent a defeat. Also, the likes of Tim David and Tilak Varma look out of touch.

On the other hand, RR have been sensational this season. Despite Jos Buttler’s poor form and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s slow start, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag have performed well. Parag has also finally justified his selection, and is on the back of a successful domestic season.

In the bowling front, R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal have worked in tandem with their spin combination. Avesh Khan and Sandeep Sharma have been reliable and Trent Boult has led the pace battery with ease. The only thing they need to worry about is Buttler’s form. After winning the Orange Cap in 2022, Buttler bagged five ducks last year, the most for anyone in a single season. This season, he has registered scores of 11(9) and 11(16).

Speaking ahead of the match, Boult said, “I think this tournament and T20 cricket is all about momentum. You always want to win every game, but it is about playing good cricket and getting on a roll. We’ve had a good start to the season equally. Last year we had a good start to the tournament and things didn’t quite go the way we wanted.”