Hardik Pandya‘s begin of the journey as Mumbai Indians skipper has largely been bitter until now. The star all-rounder has confronted the backlash of the fans within the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. This has been occurring on social media ever since he took over the MI captaincy from Rohit Sharma, who led them to 5 IPL titles. But now it has been seen on the grounds too.Â
Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen believes that the backlash is affecting Hardik’s game and is making an attempt to behave to look pleased. “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 is so happy. He is not happy. I have been there. I have been in the firing line. And I can tell you now, it affects you. If what’s happening to Hardik Pandya,” Pietersen stated in a Star Sports present throughout the MI vs CSK game.
He stated that Hardik wouldn’t need to get handled like this, citing it hurts when the fans deal with a participant like this. “If what’s happening to Hardik Pandya, the boos that we’ve just been hearing now and how happy they are to see the CSK former captain, the lion (MS Dhoni) smacking him all over the park, it hurts you because he has emotion and he’s an Indian player. And he doesn’t want to be treated like this. So when this is happening, it’s affecting him. It’s affecting his cricket and something needs to happen,” the ex-England star added.
Meanwhile, he additionally criticised Hardik’s captaincy for not turning as much as spinners when Shivam Dube was on the crease regardless of the pacers additionally going for runs. “What I saw this evening wasn’t good enough. I saw a captain who had plan A from a team meeting that was five hours ago and a captain who 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 assessed Hardik’s management vs CSK.
Hardik has not been at his greatest with each bat and the ball within the ongoing season. He has scored 131 runs from six matches and has picked three wickets. He appears to be beneath stress too.
