Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya (Photo: PTI)

MI vs SRH: After the trend of impact player in IPL, every team is using it extensively. Every team wants to take full advantage of its impact player. But, what did Hardik Pandya do with Shardul Thakur? In the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians captain fielded Shardul Thakur as an impact player, but what he did with him was never done with any impact player before. Shardul Thakur has become the first impact player to face such behavior in IPL.

Where is the use… Shardul became an impact player in name only.

Now the question is what happened to Shardul Thakur? Mumbai Indians fielded Shardul Thakur as an impact player against Sunrisers Hyderabad but neither made him bat nor allowed him to bowl. Meaning, Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya left him as an impact player in name only.

This happened for the first time with an impact player

This is the first incident in IPL history after the introduction of the impact player trend, when a team or captain has made its impact player neither bat nor bowl. Meaning he has become the first impact player Shardul Thakur. Whereas it is not that Shardul Thakur's performance is fading in IPL 2026. He did not get many opportunities in batting. He has scored just 14 runs in 2 innings of 7 matches. But in bowling, he is second in terms of taking more wickets for Mumbai Indians.

Shardul has better bowling record than Pandya and Bumrah

Shardul Thakur has taken 6 wickets in 5 innings of 7 matches played so far for Mumbai Indians. This number of his wickets is not only better than the team's star bowler Jasprit Bumrah but also pales in comparison to Hardik Pandya, who has taken 4 wickets in 7 innings of 7 matches.

What was the harm in trying Shardul against SRH?

Even against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Hardik Pandya has given away runs with an economy of 10.63 while Bumrah's economy has been 13.50. Even the team's most successful bowler Allah Ghazanfar had an economy of 12.75 against SRH. In such a situation, the question is that where all the batsmen have been beaten, what was Hardik Pandya's reason for not making Shardul Thakur bowl?

TV9 Bharatvarsh

TV9 Bharatvarsh is the flagship Hindi news platform of the digital TV9 network. On this website, readers are introduced to the latest news, breaking news, analysis and ground reporting from India and abroad. TV9's website tv9hindi.com holds its place among the major Hindi websites. TV9 Hindi also has its own mobile app, where news can be read and watched through both text and video. TV9 website covers news across diverse categories like politics, economy, sports, entertainment, health, tech and international affairs. Explainers, exclusive stories, video reports and live updates are available here. The digital segment of TV9 network has grown rapidly and reaches millions of unique users.

Read More