Follow UsA break in play followed by a wicket, how many times have you seen it?
It was a similar tale in the Mumbai Indians’ home clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad, on April 17 (Thursday), when MI skipper Hardik Pandya went down with an apparent ankle trouble. Immediately, Pandya signalled to the bench, asking for a substitution as SRH were 59/0.
When it felt like Pandya was going to walk off with another bout of ankle injury, the all-rounder was treated to mark an immediate return. With Abhishek Sharma finding his form as well, it looked like things were going from bad to worse.
Given that Karn Sharma already walked off with a split webbing, the five-time IPL champions had to find other avenues to fill that gap. However, MI’s physio treated Pandya well enough for the all-rounder to mark his return immediately.
Off the very first ball after the injury, the Baroda all-rounder struck to remove Abhishek, doing his impression of Rishabh Pant from the 2024 T20 World Cup final, where he delayed the proceedings, faking an injury.
From agony to ecstasy, things changed immediately for MI with Pandya’s timely strike.