New Delhi. When Mumbai Indians announced the appointment of Hardik Pandya as the captain in place of Rohit Sharma for the 17th season of IPL, both the franchise and Pandya faced continuous criticism from the fans. Now when the season is not going well for the team, Kevin Pietersen and Sunil Gavaskar have also criticized Hardik Pandya’s captaincy and his form. Despite Rohit Sharma’s century in the match against Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians lost by 20 runs. After the defeat, Hardik Pandya faced the most criticism for bowling the last over of CSK’s innings and giving away 26 runs. After the match, former England player Kevin Pietersen criticized Hardik and said that it was clear that he was faking.
“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
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 14, 2024
Kevin Pietersen’s comment on Hardik Pandya during the toss
Kevin Pietersen, while talking about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy on Star Sports, said that he feels that Pandya is getting influenced by everything happening outside the game. At the time of the toss, Pietersen said it was clear that Pandya was smiling forcefully, as if he was acting. He didn’t seem happy at all. Pietersen said that he himself has been there and can say that it is having an impact on Pandya. When MS Dhoni was hitting sixes off his balls, the noise in the stadium was against Pandya. Pietersen said that being an Indian player, this kind of behavior will definitely affect Pandya.
Sunil Gavaskar criticized Hardik Pandya’s captaincy
Former Indian team captain Sunil Gavaskar criticized Hardik Pandya as a bowler and captain after Mumbai Indians’ defeat on Star Sports. Gavaskar said that he has not seen such bad bowling for a long time. He pointed out that Pandya should have known that his bowling was perfect for Dhoni to hit sixes, yet he kept bowling long balls which any batsman could have easily sent into the stands in those conditions. Gavaskar concluded that Pandya’s bowling was worse than usual, and his captaincy in the match was also very poor.