The Mumbai Indians (MI) were defeated by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by a score of 24 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on May 3. Former Indian batter Virender Sehwag criticised the MI's strategy of putting Hardik Pandya and Tim David lower down the order in the match.

With MI reeling at 70/5 in the 11th over, Hardik came in, but he was out on 1 after failing to make an impact. After scoring 24 runs off of 20 deliveries, David fell in the 19th over, although displaying some good batting.

“KKR saved Andre Russell; he played only two balls. Mumbai Indians saved Hardik Pandya and Tim David. What did you achieve by doing that? There were many deliveries left, and they all got out. You could've come earlier, or maybe you could've finished the game earlier, too. I don't know what happens to them when they chase... Hardik Pandya at seven and Tim David at 8. I just don't understand what they did. Are these players that bad that they will get out if they come earlier?” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

“Hardik Pandya batted at 4 consistently when he was the GT captain. What has happened here? It baffles me that the experienced players are coming so low.”

After losing by 24 runs to KKR, the five-time champions are now in danger of elimination. With just 11 games played, MI has lost eight of them. If other teams go down, MI will have to win all of their remaining games to qualify for the playoffs, which is a very unlikely situation.