Mumbai Indians‘ captain Hardik Pandya has come under fire from former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who criticized his captaincy and demeanor during the ongoing IPL 2024 season. Pietersen’s remarks came after Mumbai Indians lost to Chennai Super Kings in a recent match.
Pietersen criticized Pandya for his captaincy decisions, particularly for not using spinners when the pacers were being hit around the park. He pointed out that Shreyas Gopal bowled just one over, while Mohammad Nabi also didn’t complete his quota of overs.
“What I saw this evening wasn’t good enough. I saw a captain that had plan A from a team meeting that was five hours ago and a captain that didn’t want to go to plan B when he should have gone to plan B. Like how on this Earth have you not bowled a spinner when your seamers are going for 20. Brian Lara said can we please bowl a spinner? Somebody needs to bowl here. You need to change the pace of the game,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.
Pietersen also criticized Pandya for appearing to be too happy and smiling excessively, suggesting that it was a facade to hide his true feelings. He implied that the boos from fans and the pressure of captaincy were affecting Pandya’s performance and mental state.
Pietersen said
“I actually think with Hardik Pandya everything away from the game is affecting him so much. He’s smiling too much when he does the toss, he’s trying to act like he’s so happy. He’s not happy. I’ve been there. I’ve been in the firing line and I’ve been in the firing line proper, he knows I’ve been in the firing line, you know, I’ve been in the firing line and I can tell you now, it affects you,” Pietersen added.
Pietersen’s comments come at a challenging time for Pandya, who has faced criticism from fans and pundits alike for Mumbai Indians’ poor performance under his captaincy. Mumbai Indians have won just two out of six matches under Pandya’s leadership, and the pressure seems to be mounting on the all-rounder both on and off the field.
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