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Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling allrounder Shreyas Gopal on Wednesday showered praise on his skipper Hardik Pandya and called him a "tough guy".
The Mumbai-based franchise will take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 33rd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Thursday. While speaking at the pre-match press conference, Gopal said that he has known Hardik for a decade now. He added that the MI skipper is one of the "toughest human beings in the world". "See, very honestly, I've known Hardik for a decade since my time at Mumbai Indians 10 years ago. Even then, nothing much has changed between us. And if people know him, he's a really tough guy. As much as people say he's a strong guy, don't worry; he is. Over 10 years of experience or 10 years of friendship with him, he's a really tough guy. He's one of the toughest human beings in the world," Gopal was quoted by MI's website as saying. In MI's last match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Pandya scalped two wickets in his three-over spell and gifted 43 runs. However, he failed to shine with the bat as he scored only two runs playing six balls. He added that they were "unfortunate" to concede a 20-run loss against CSK in their previous match of the IPL 2024. "Unfortunately, we couldn't cross the line on the winning side in the last match. But if you look at it, this tournament is my 10th year in the IPL, and every team goes through ups and downs. When you start hitting a purple patch, you click as a team. We saw a couple of outstanding games where we all came together as a group," he added. MI are currently standing in the ninth place on the IPL standings after winning two of six matches with four points at a net run rate of -0.234. Mumbai Indians Squad: Ishan Kishan (Wk), Hardik Pandya (C), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Shreyas Gopal, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Madhwal, Dewald Brevis, Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Harvik Desai, Shams Mulani, Arjun Tendulkar, Kumar Kartikeya, Shivalik Sharma, Anshul Kamboj, Nuwan Thushara, Kwena Maphaka, Luke Wood, Piyush Chawla. (ANI)
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