We need to be more disciplined and show courage: Hardik Pandya

Asked to bat, MI were left tottering at 20 for 4 in the fourth over and they just couldn't recover from the disastrous start, managing only 125 for nine in the allotted 20 overs.

PTI
April 02, 2024 / 09:01 AM IST

The Congress has hailed as an "important first step" the Supreme Court's notice to the Election Commission and the Centre on a plea seeking a complete count of VVPAT slips and said the matter should be decided before the Lok Sabha polls commence. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Monday said, "The Supreme Court has issued a notice today to the Election Commission on the issue of VVPATs. It bears constant repetition that the Election Commission has refused to meet a delegation of INDIA (bloc) party leaders who have been demanding 100 per cent VVPATs to increase public confidence in EVMs and to ensure the integrity of the electoral process." The court on Monday sought responses from the commission and the central government on the plea seeking a complete count of VVPAT slips in polls as opposed to the current practice of verification of only five randomly selected EVMs through VVPAT paper slips. "The notice is an important first step, but for it to be meaningful, the matter should be decided before the elections commence," Ramesh said. The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is an independent vote verification system which permits an elector to see whether his vote was cast correctly. The VVPAT generates a paper slip which can be viewed by the voter and the paper slip is kept in a sealed cover and can be opened in case of a dispute. The top court, on April 8, 2019, had ordered the poll panel to increase the number of EVMs that undergo VVPAT physical verification from one to five per assembly segment in a parliamentary constituency. A bench comprising justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta took note of the submissions of lawyers representing activist Arun Kumar Agrawal seeking a complete count of VVPAT slips in elections as opposed to the verification of only five randomly selected EVMs through VVPAT paper slips. It issued notices to the Election Commission (EC) and the central government on the plea which may be listed for hearing on May 17. Senior lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Neha Rathi appeared for Agrawal. The plea assailed the EC's guideline that mandates that VVPAT verification shall be done sequentially, one after the other. The plea said if simultaneous verification is done and more officers are deployed for counting in each assembly constituency, then complete VVPAT verification can be done in five to six hours.

Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya on Monday urged his team to show a bit more "discipline" and "courage" to turn things around after suffering a third successive loss in the IPL 2024.

Asked to bat, MI were left tottering at 20 for 4 in the fourth over and they just couldn't recover from the disastrous start, managing only 125 for nine in the allotted 20 overs.

In reply, Rajasthan Royals overhauled the target with 27 balls to spare for a six-wicket win.

"We didn't start the way we wanted to, tough night tonight," Hardik told the broadcasters after the match.

"Results, sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't. I don't think much surprises me anymore. But as a group we believe we can pull off a lot of better things going forward and we just need to be more disciplined and show more courage." It was Hardik's 21-ball 34 which pushed MI's total. But things went downhill after he was sent back by Yuzvendra Chahal.

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"I think we were in a decent position to give us a chance to get to 150 or 160 but I think my wicket changed the game and brought them more in the game and I think I could have done better," he said.

The bowlers had a good day in office with Chahal (3/11) and Trent Boult (3/22) setting up the win for RR.

"It's good to have something for the bowlers as well. The game is quite cruel to the bowlers. But it was unexpected. It's all about doing the right things," Hardik said.

RR skipper Sanju Samson said the toss played a crucial role in deciding the fate of the match.

"(The toss) I think that was the gamechanger. The toss was very crucial. I felt it was too sticky to start off and we had the experience of Trent Boult and Nandre Burger's speed," Samson said.

"(Boult) has been playing international cricket for so long and we expected him to deliver. I didn't expect four or five wickets down, but it was great.

"We all do our roles and move on. Someone like R Ashwin knew we had a good powerplay so he didn't go for wickets, just kept it tight. So it's about teamwork." Chasing 126 for a win, RR were reduced to 48 for three in the seventh over but Riyan Parag blasted a 39-ball 54 not out, his second successive fifty this season, to take the team home.

"Actually, I've simplified everything instead of trying to do a lot of things. Earlier when I wasn't getting runs I would try a lot of different things. This year, it's just seeing the ball and hitting the ball," Parag said.

"When I play domestically this is the exact kind of situations I go into bat. When Jos (Jos Buttler) bhai and Ash (R Ashwin) bhai got out, I thought to myself this is what I do in domestic cricket. So that's what I calculated.

On the difference between domestic cricket and IPL, Parag said: "I have had three-four years of not performing at all. And you really go back to the hotel room and think when you know you can do it and the results are not coming, you go back to the drawing room.

"I realised I wasn't practicing at this kind of level so I went and did that." Boult was awarded the Player of the Match for his three wickets in the powerplay with two of them -- Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir -- coming in the first over itself.

"Never say it's a certainty in the format, but it was nice to get the wickets. We created early pressure, nice to take some wickets and glad the result went our way," he said.

Boult also termed South Africa's Nandre Burger a "great find".

"Bowls with great skill and plays with his heart on his sleeves. Sandeep obviously missed out but he'll play a big role in the season. Excited to be part of this bowling attack."

PTI
Tags: #cricket #Hardik Pandya #IPL #Sports
first published: Apr 2, 2024 08:59 am

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