'Might have been missing the sixth bowler': Lynn reveals reason behind Hardik not bowling against RCB

There was talk about Hardik Pandya not bowling during the match as he played exclusively as a batsman against RCB.

Mumbai Indians continued their streak of losing their first match of an Indian Premier League season. Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to trump Mumbai Indians by two wickets in match one of IPL 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Hardik Pandya. ((IPL/Twitter))

There was also talk about Hardik Pandya not bowling during the match as he played exclusively as a batsman against RCB. Hardik could only manage 13 runs on Friday before he was dismissed by Harshal Patel in the 16th over.

After bowling against England for Team India in March, Hardik did not even bowl a single over against RCB. MI's opening batsman Chris Lynn revealed the reason behind it. He said that Hardik Pandya had a bit of shoulder niggle and that is why the all-rounder did not come onto bowl.

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"I am not a 100 per cent sure but I think it is a bit of shoulder niggle. I am not sure though. It is more precautionary, he has played fair bit of cricket leading into this tournament. We have 14 games as well so you do not want to throw all your eggs into one basket and risk the injury if it is a shoulder. The physios, support staff and the medical team will treat Hardik if there is something wrong there," said Lynn during a virtual press conference.

"If he gets back to bowling, it adds another dimension to our team. We might have been missing the sixth bowler against RCB, but it's early stages in this tournament, there is a lot of cricket to come and we have to adapt to this wicket, we have five games here, so next four games so it is going to be tricky," he added.

Harshal’s heroics and AB de Villiers' masterclass helped RCB defeat MI by two wickets in IPL 2021 opening match at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.