SMAT 2025: Delaying evening matches will help level dew influence across both innings, says Shardul

With dew dictating the evening contests at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Super League, Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur suggested that the timings of the evening games should be revised in order to provide the teams with a level playing field.

In the ongoing tournament, the evening fixtures start at 4.30 p.m., and Shardul believes that as the dew sets in, the toss becomes crucial and the team bowling first eventually gains an upper hand. That, according to him, should be looked into.

“The timings are a bit odd. The venue has been used before, so there are a lot of used pitches here, so they water it and roll it again. So, when you are playing a morning game, there is a lot of dampness on the pitch, and then it settles down. Even in the evening games, team bowling first gets dry conditions and then suddenly dew comes in, making the toss a big factor,” Shardul told  Sportstar.

“A night game should start a little later, so that, if there’s dew, both teams should have that advantage or disadvantage of playing in such conditions. Even the morning games could be pushed a little bit, where pitches get a bit of sun and then it dries out. Then both teams can have those dry conditions. We need to think about it in the longer run,” he added.

Mumbai’s chances of defending the title suffered a blow as it went down to Hyderabad by nine wickets. And, the captain blamed it on losing wickets at crucial junctures.

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“We need a little bit of smartness in batting. We had a good start, but unfortunately, we lost (Yashasvi) Jaiswal on the last ball of the Powerplay, so that was something which could have been avoided because we reached the total that we wanted in the Powerplay,” he said. Mumbai was at 52 for 2 in 5.5 overs before Jaiswal was trapped leg-before. That, according to Shardul, proved to be the turning point.

“The pitch was very dry to start with. I thought we tried to play too many singles and dot balls till the 14th over and only then we tried to accelerate. So, a bit of better intent and smartness could have helped us,” he added.

Mumbai will take on Haryana in its second Super League contest on Sunday morning.

Published on Dec 12, 2025