NEW DELHI: Skipper
Hardik Pandya
on Monday received a special jersey from Mumbai Indians great
Lasith Malinga
on the milestone of playing the 100th Indian Premier League game for the franchise.
Hardik was presented with the jersey just before MI walked out to defend their total of 179 against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur in Match 38.
In the team huddle, before the start of the second innings, Malinga gave the jersey to the swashbuckling all-rounder with 100 engraved on its backside.
Hardik began his IPL journey with MI in 2015 and was with the side till 2021 before moving to Gujarat Titans.
At Titans, the 30-year-old took the franchise to title triumph in their maiden IPL appearance in 2022. In the following season, Hardik took the franchise to the finals where they lost to Chennai Super Kings.
Before the start of the 2024 edition of the league, Hardik moved back to MI and replaced Rohit Sharma as skipper.
In the clash against table-toppers Rajasthan Royals, MI were restricted to 179/9 as Sandeep Sharma grabbed his maiden five-wicket haul in the IPL.
Yuzvendra Chahal also entered history books with 200 dismissals in their clash against MI .
Coming back after an injury layoff, Sandeep (5/18) claimed three of his five wickets in a terrific final over while also accounting for Tilak Varma, whose 45-ball 65 (4x4s, 3x6s) lifted MI from a precarious position.
With their top-order blown away without any resistance for the second time this season by Rajasthan, MI were struggling at 52/4 at one stage.
But Tilak and Nehal Wadhera (49) fought their way through adversity to deliver the goods for Mumbai Indians, putting on 99 runs for the fifth wicket at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
However, MI lost wickets in heap on either side of their fifth-wicket stand to post the lowest total for all teams batting first at this venue in this season.
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