Former Indian batter and Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Gautam Gambhir has lashed out at Kevin Pietersen and AB de Villiers for their comments questioning Hardik Pandya’s leadership abilities. Notably, Pandya had taken over as Mumbai Indians after a successful stint with Gujarat Titans in the last two years.
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The decision of appointing Pandya as captain over Rohit Sharma had not gone down with the MI fans who had booed the all-rounder during the initial few matches of the IPL. However, MI’s disappointing stint at this year’s IPL had also given former cricketers and experts to question his ability as a captain.
Former South African batter AB de Villiers had criticized Pandya in a video on his official YouTube channel where he stated that the 30-year-old’s captaincy style is ‘ego-driven’ and ‘chest out’.
Meanwhile, Pietersen stated that it seems like all the controversy surrounding Pandya’s captaincy is affecting him. The former English player also noted that Pandya is trying to smile too much and act like he is happy.
Gautam Gambhir backs Hardik Pandya: ‘Compare oranges to oranges’
In an interaction with Sportskeeda, Gambhir bashed the two foreign players and instead questioned their record in the IPL. He said, “What was their own performance like when they were the captain? I don’t think, be it Kevin Pietersen or AB de Villiers, they had any performance in their career with leadership. Nothing. If you pick and see their records, I think they are worse than any other leader.”
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Elaborating on Ab de Viliers’ captaincy stint, Gambhir said, “I don’t think AB de Villiers has even captained any game in the IPL or ultimately achieved anything apart from his own scores. I do not think he has achieved anything from a team point of view. Hardik Pandya is still an IPL winning captain. So, you should only compare orange to oranges, not apples to oranges,”
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Published: 15 May 2024, 02:17 PM IST