Mumbai Indians leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal said it is inspiring to see how Hardik Pandya is handling the heat he has been facing from fans since his appointment as the franchise’s new skipper in the IPL.
“I have known Hardik for a decade, since my time with Mumbai Indians 10 years ago… He is a really tough guy. Something like this is only going to motivate him. The way he has been taking it so far is tremendous and really inspiring,” he said on the eve of MI’s match against Punjab Kings here.
Alluding to the team’s penchant for starting a season poorly before catching up in the later stages, Gopal said MI’s resilience is what made it the joint-most successful side in the league’s history.
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“This team always has that x-factor, those characters that stand up and wanto to prove to themselves that they are good enough. That’s the only reason is franchise has won five titles.”
Sunil Joshi of Punjab Kings | Photo Credit: SPORTZPICS for IPL
Gopal bowled just one over in the defeat against Chennai Super Kings, despite picking a wicket, and the leggie admitted that at the time he felt he could have bowled one more over but the team thought his match-up against spin-hitter Shivam Dube wasn’t favourable.
Spin bowling hasn’t been Mumbai’s strong suit this season and Gopal stressed that was largely due to the Wankhede Stadium not favouring the tweakers.
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings’ spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi said the tricky nature of the wicket here had played a part in the top order’s poor returns, but had given the edge to the home team’s bowlers.
“Bowlers win tournaments, batters win matches. Our bowling unit is doing consistently well in all areas. It is time our batters will take responsibility. We have addressed that. But this is a challenging wicket for all batters, especially for the visitors, because the nature of bounce is completely different from all other surfaces. It’s an advantage for us,” he said
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