Former India batter Abhinav Mukund has stated that he thinks the Mumbai Indians (MI) should continue to play Naman Dhir at No. 3 following their win over the Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday.
Dhir was sent to bat at No. 3 against GT after debutant Danish Malewar was dismissed in the second over. MI lost two more wickets in the powerplay as Dhir had to watch it all from the non-strikers’ end.
Naman Dhir saves MI from collapse
The fall of early wickets meant that Naman Dhir was batting at No. 3 instead of playing in his usual role at the back end of the innings. Dhir did his job excellently to avert the collapse and give MI a chance.
After walking in early, Dhir had to witness his more experienced partners Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav depart within the powerplay itself as Kagiso Rabada was spitting fire all over Ahmedabad. In the middle overs, Tilak Varma was infamously struggling to put bat on ball, but Naman Dhir provided a valuable innings of 45 runs from 32 balls to keep the innings afloat.
Varma eventually completed his century off the last ball of the innings, and Dhir was the second-highest scorer.
Mukund says MI should continue with Dhir at No. 3
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, former India batter Mukund said “He is a very very good player who has unfortunately not gotten a run at the top of the order for Mumbai because of their abundance of resources.”
When asked whether Naman Dhir should continue at 3 for MI, Mukund added “So right now, they need to take a call on does he stay at 3 and I think that’s something they will [do] because they found a winning formula.”
The Mumbai Indians broke a four-match losing streak with a dominating 99-run win over the Gujarat Titans.
Mukund elaborates on the effects of letting Dhir bat at three
Talking about what the after-effects of Dhir batting at three would be, Mukund elaborated, “Surya bats at four, and based on the left-right [combination], maybe they will switch between Rutherford, Pandya and Tilak there for that five, six and seven.”
The match against GT was the first time in 19 matches that Naman Dhir batted at No. 3 for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Apart from his heroics with the bat, Naman Dhir also took three catches in the field.
MI’s next matches
Mumbai Indians will take on arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings next at their home base in the Wankhede Stadium on April 26. MI’s win over GT will arguably bring them both relief and confidence from their dominating performance.
The two most successful teams in IPL history are currently placed seventh and eighth on the points table with four points each. Both teams have just two wins in six matches. This means that the ‘El Clasico’ of IPL might just be a battle for survival rather than the grand spectacle that is expected of it.
