IPL 2024: AB de Villiers rips apart Hardik Pandya’s leadership skill

After winning the trophy in 2022 and finishing runner-up in 2023, Hardik Pandya received a lot of flowers for taking a young team to glory. However, within a year, the all-rounder is facing extreme criticism, more so because of his choices. After a successful campaign in 2023, Pandya switched sides and reunited with Mumbai Indians, a franchise that he left ahead of the 2022 edition. However, their reunion was not a pleasant one as Mumbai could not qualify for the playoffs in 2024 and were the first team to get eliminated from the race.

Speaking on their early elimination, legendary cricketer AB de Villiers opined that Hardik’s captaincy isn’t sitting well with the seniors in the squad. The former cricketer believes that his style is good for an inexperienced side but for a team like Mumbai, in which, there are multiple old horses, Hardik’s captaincy looks bravado and ego-driven, which is not suiting the team.

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“The captaincy style of Hardik Pandya is quite bravado. It's ego-driven in a way, chest out. I don't think how he walks on the field is always genuine, but he has decided that is his way of captaincy,” said De Villiers on his YouTube channel.

“Almost like MS. Cool, calm, collective, always got your chest out. But when you play with a lot of experienced players, guys who have been around for ages... They don't buy into that. It worked at GT, where it was a younger team. Sometimes, inexperienced players love to follow that kind of leadership,” he added.

The former Proteas captain added that Hardik should ask Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah for some tactical help and need not be ego-driven. He also clarified that he loves to see Hardik and relate to him as he too used to play with his chest out.

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“Now there's a Rohit, there's a Bumrah. They go like, all we need you to be is calm. Give us a bit of input on how to win matches. We don't need the bravado. I'm not having a go at Hardik. I love watching him play. I love him putting out his chest because I was like that,” the 40-year-old added.