Mumbai Indians' batting coach Kieron Pollard backed Hardik Pandya's move to open the bowling instead of Jasprit Bumrah and also said the skipper batting at number seven in their IPL opener against Gujarat Titans was a "collective decision".
An inexplicable batting strategy saw MI lose their opener by six runs in Ahmedabad on Sunday after they looked on course for victory.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bowl first and surprisingly, Hardik opened the bowling against his former side.
