AB de Villiers unfiltered on Hardik Pandya’s ‘ego-driven’ MI captaincy, explains why Rohit won’t work with Bumrah

It has been a tough IPL 2024 season for Mumbai Indians and their captain Hardik Pandya. MI entered the edition amid considerable controversy, with Hardik replacing five-time title-winning captain Rohit Sharma as the franchise’s new captain; The decision was met with criticism from its own fans, and things did not change at the start of the season. Hardik was mobbed by MI’s own fans at the Wankhede Stadium and reports of dismay in the dressing room are still rife.

It didn’t help the all-rounder that his form was poor either; In 13 matches of the season, Hardik failed to score a single half-century and crossed the 200-run mark only in the team’s last match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday. With the ball, he has 11 wickets to his name, underscoring a markedly subpar performance for an all-rounder of his calibre.

Many leading names including Rohit Sharma, Isan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav also endured an unbelievable season with the bat and MI became the first team to be eliminated from the play-off race earlier this week.

As MI suffered yet another defeat – their ninth of the season – against KKR in Kolkata, AB de Villiers spoke about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy for the franchise so far. The former South African batsman believed that Hardik’s leadership style was not “always genuine”.

“Hardik Pandya’s style of captaincy is quite angry. It’s kind of ego-driven, off the chest,” de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“I don’t think the way he walks on the field is always genuine, but he’s decided that’s his way of captaincy. Almost like MS (Dhoni). Cool, calm, collective, always holding your chest.”

Will not work around experienced players

Elaborating on his point, AB de Villiers gave the example of his experience playing under Graeme Smith. The former South Africa opener led a fairly young side for many years, leading them to considerable success during his tenure; De Villiers was young when he joined the Smith-led Proteas side.

“When you play with a lot of experienced players, guys who have been around a long time, they don’t accept it. It worked at GT where it was a young team. Sometimes inexperienced players like to follow that lead. .

“I remember Graeme Smith. He was there for the team. All I needed as a child was to follow. Now there is Rohit (Sharma), there is (Jasprit) Bumrah. They’re like, ‘We just need you to be calm. Give us some information on how to win matches. We don’t need anger’. I’m not going to go to Hardik. I love watching him play. I was. I believed that as a batter, sometimes you have to fake it to make it,” he concluded.

Mumbai Indians will be playing for pride when they take on Lucknow Super Giants in the final match of the season on May 17.