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Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the Mumbai Indians (MI) think-tank for not sending Ishan Kishan to bat in the Super Over against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), on September 28.
It was Kishan’s 58-ball 99 that kept MI in the game, despite wickets falling at regular intervals. The southpaw stitched a crucial partnership with Kieron Pollard that almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
With 18 needed off the last over, Kishan banged two successive sixes to bring MI just five short of the target, with two more balls to be bowled. He tried to hit the penultimate delivery over the deep-midwicket but the ball fell right in the grasp of Devdutt Padikkal.
Thereafter, Pollard smashed the boundary off the last ball to take the match to Super Over.
Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard opened for MI in Super Over
Pandya and Pollard walked on to open the inning for MI, but they could only make as many as seven runs. RCB skipper Virat Kohli hit the boundary of the last ball to win it for his team.
Gavaskar opines that MI should have sent Kishan in the Super Over.
“There’s not much time in a Super Over to plan anything. The worst part is the captain and coach will have 15 people telling them what to do. If it was not 8 or 18 to get, RCB would have sent a left-hander in Shivam Dube,” he said during the commentary.
“If it was a 40-over game, Ishan Kishan would still want to go out and bat because form is such a fickle thing it can go just like that. So yes, I think Ishan Kishan should have come in because it was a matter of just 6 deliveries,” concluded Gavaskar.
MI will next clash against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the 13th match of the tournament, on October 01.
