Hardik Pandya "Smiling Too Much, Acting Like He's...": England Great Hits Bullseye
NDTV
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya is yet to create an impact in IPL 2024, be it with his bowling, batting or captaincy.
It isn't the same Hardik Pandya that left Mumbai Indians two seasons ago or the same person who led Gujarat Titans to two consecutive finals in the Indian Premier League. Hardik, as the captain of the Mumbai Indians, has remained pretty ordinary while his bowling and batting skills have also left much to be desired. As Indian cricket great highlighted all the wrongs Hardik did in the match against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, former England captain Kevin Pietersen also joined in, highlighting the lapses in his captaincy decision as well as execution as a batter and a bowler in the middle. "It's affecting him, it's affecting his cricket and something needs to happen" - #KevinPietersen on Hardik's last over vs @msdhoni and the ups and downs of his captaincy!| Watch the legends of the game, #SunilGavaskar and @KP24 talk more about @hardikpandya7's leadership!… pic.twitter.com/QxCKE6KXf8
Pietersen, in a chat on Star Sports, highlighted how Hardik should've bowled spinners sooner in the game as the pace bowlers were leaking plenty of runs.
"What I saw this evening was not good enough. I saw a captain that had a plan A from a team meeting that was five hours ago and the captain didn't want to go to Plan B when he should have. How on earth have you not bowled a spinner when your seamers are going for 20 runs?! Brain Lara was saying on commentary, 'Can we please bowl spinners?' They have spinners that can bowl. You need to change the pace of the game," he said.
Pietersen also feels that it's the off-field issues, referring to the crowd outrage over Hardik replacing Rohit as the Mumbai Indians captain, that is affecting the India all-rounder. The England great wants the issue to be resolved quickly as it is leaving a deep impact on Hardik.
