Mumbai Indians captain snaps back at critics questioning Jasprit Bumrah's first-over call: ‘Not Hardik Pandya problem’

Hardik Pandya issued a fiery response to the critics who kept questioning the move to not give the first over to Jasprit Bumrah.

And just like that, Jasprit Bumrah broke his wicket-taking dry spell on Monday night against the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 fixture at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. All it took for the ace speedster to change his fortunes was to bowl the first over of the innings. Heading into the match against Gujarat, Bumrah had not once bowled the opening over for the franchise in the 19th edition of the tournament, and skipper Hardik Pandya was facing a lot of brickbats for not giving the No.1 bowler in the world an opportunity to strike big.

Mumbai Indians' Jasprit Bumrah and teammates celebrate the wicket of Gujarat Titans' Sai Sudharsan. (ANI Pic Service)

In the opening six matches, Bumrah often came as the first change or bowled the second over of the game. However, with Mumbai benching Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Trent Boult, Pandya decided to give the ball to Bumrah straight up, and this brought instant results as Bumrah ended his dry spell and dismissed Sai Sudharsan. Bumrah eventually returned with the figures of 1/15 as the Mumbai Indians defeated the Gujarat Titans by 99 runs.

After returning to winning ways, skipper Hardik issued a fiery response when he was asked about not giving Bumrah the first over before the game against Gujarat. The all-rounder said that previous captains have also hesitated in giving him the opening over, hence it is not just a “Hardik Pandya problem.”

“It's quite fascinating. I see a lot of people asking why Jassi isn't bowled up front, but he's only bowled the first over seven or eight times in 140-odd games. So it's not a Hardik Pandya problem, it's an everybody problem,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation.

‘No one better’

The Mumbai Indians captain then explained his rationale for not giving Bumrah the opening over previously, saying the pacer is very special and can make an impact whenever he's called upon to bowl.

“It’s just that Jasprit Bumrah is so special that you use him wherever it’s required for the team, not when you start. So, but yeah, today was something we realised - that we really want to make an impact with the new ball, and no one’s better than him,” said Hardik.

Speaking of the game between Mumbai and Gujarat, the former was asked to bat first. Tilak Varma played an unbeaten 101-run knock as the five-time champions posted 199/5 in the 20 overs. Gujarat Titans were then bowled out for just 100 as Ashwani Kumar returned with four wickets.

With this win, Mumbai Indians received a major shot in the arm in terms of net run rate and moved to the seventh spot in the points table.