Former Indian cricketer and full-time cricket pundit Irfan Pathan was not pleased with Sanju Samson’s captaincy in match No. 45 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday. Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indian side condemned Samson’s Rajasthan Royals to their third defeat of the new IPL season at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy.
Suryakumar Yadav-starrer Mumbai Indians side chased down the challenging total of 159 in the final over of their innings to register the first win of the new season. RR’s Daryl Mitchell, who was introduced in the 7th over by Samson, ended up leaking 20 runs during MI’s successful run-chase at Navi Mumbai. Pathan, who never shies away from speaking his mind on Twitter, mentioned the game-changing over in one of his tweets on Saturday.
Taking to Twitter amid the 15th season of the cash-rich league, Pathan questioned Samson’s decision and the former IPL star also highlighted that the RR skipper also had pace ace Trent Boult at his disposal. “Still trying to understand the logic behind bowling Daryl Mitchell the 7th over. Trent Boult didn’t finish his quota of 4 overs,” Pathan said in his tweet. Pathan’s tweet sparked a debate among the netizens on the microblogging site.
Mitchell’s single over proved costly for Samson’s Rajasthan as Rohit-led Mumbai chased down the target with 5 balls to spare. RR’s speed merchant Trent Boult, who bagged the crucial wicket of opener Ishan Kishan, only bowled three overs in the high-voltage clash between RR and MI at Navi Mumbai. New Zealand pacer Boult leaked 26 runs in the 3 overs he bowled against the Mumbai Paltan.
Talking more about the match, Suryakumar ‘s blistering knock of 51 off 39 balls powered Mumbai to their first win of the IPL 2022. Winless in 8 matches of the new season, Rohit & Co. defeated Samson’s RR by 5 wickets to open their account. Samson-led RR side is placed second on the points table with 6 wins and 3 defeats in the league phase of IPL 2022.
