Former Mumbai Indians and India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has stated that the five-time champions missed a trick by not playing Afghanistan’s Allah Ghazanfar in their loss against Delhi Capitals on April 4.
Mumbai were beaten by six wickets, as Delhi chased down 163, with in-form Sameer Rizvi scoring brilliant 90. Mumbai missed the services of captain Hardik Pandya, who was out with illness. Corbin Bosch was brought in to replace the skipper, with Suryakumar Yadav taking on captaincy duties.
Harbhajan mentioned that with the Delhi wicket favouring spinners, Ghazanfar should have started for the five-time champions instead of Bosch.
“Mumbai Indians made a mistake in this match. They included Bosch in this match because Hardik Pandya was not available for this game. The best thing could have been to play Allah Ghazanfar on this pitch, where there was a bit more turn, because Santner is a bowler who can restrict scoring, and anyone who tries to hit him will get out,” Harbhajan said, speaking on his YouTube channel.
Ghazanfar, who made his debut in Mumbai’s win against Kolkata, had a poor outing, going for 51 runs in his four overs. He was unable to pick up any wickets, as the Kolkata bowlers took him to the cleaners. Harbhajan believes that despite this, Ghazanfar should have been picked and having him in the team would have helped MI.
“But Allah Ghazanfar is the kind of bowler who doesn’t give singles easily. Forget what happened in the last match. He gave runs in Mumbai, but many bowlers give runs. Don’t forget you picked him for his wicket-taking abilities, and if he had played in Delhi, the results could have been different,” he added.
Spin destroyed Mumbai’s innings
Harbhajan also spoke of the difference between the wickets in Mumbai and Delhi, a reason for Mumbai’s low score against the Capitals. He further praised the Delhi bowlers, singling out captain Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar for their spells. Mukesh picked up two wickets in the span of three balls, to dent Mumbai in the powerplay, while Axar bowled an economical spell of 1/22, halting Mumbai’s progress in the middle overs.
“On their home ground, that bounce, the red soil bounce, makes batting very easy, and you get lots of boundaries. Here, you have to put in a bit more effort. This is black soil; the ball tends to skid and stays a bit low, and today, there was a bit of spin too, which completely destroyed Mumbai’s innings. 162 runs, in the context of this format nowadays, that’s nothing. I want to give some praise to the bowlers. Axar Patel, in his four overs, gave away only 22 runs and captained very well. I also want to praise Mukesh for the way he bowled,” he said.
The Mumbai Indians take on the in-form Rajasthan Royals at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati on April 7.
