Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen expressed his concerns over the Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya. He believes that the all-rounder is pretending to be happy amid facing backlash from the fans in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Hardik Pandya is not having a great time in the ongoing IPL 2024. He isn’t receiving great support from the fans and also his performances are going down, which has seen him getting a lot of criticism from many fans as well as the experts.
Hardik Pandya has received a lot of boos from the fans. This is because him taking over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma hasn’t gone well with many. The all-rounder replaced Rohit, who guided Mumbai Indians to five titles in the Indian Premier League.
Apart from that, Hardik Pandya has failed to deliver as a player as well as a captain. Under his leadership, Mumbai Indians have won just two games so far in the tournament and have lost 4 matches, reeling at the bottom of the points table.
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Hardik Pandya has been poor with bat and ball as well. He is averaging under 27 with the bat and 44 with the ball at an economy rate of 12. His poor performance is one of the main reasons why his team is underperforming and is 8th on the points table.
Kevin Pietersen believes that everything is affecting Hardik Pandya and the all-rounder is trying to act like he is happy. He recalled how he went through the same time in his career. Speaking to Star Sports, he explained:
“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.”
He is an Indian player and he doesn’t want to be treated like this – Kevin Pietersen on Hardik Pandya
The former England cricketer further went to say that Hardik Pandya is getting hurt by all the boos because as an Indian player, no one wants to be treated like this. He further added that the all-rounder needs to find his way out. He explained:
“The boos we have been hearing just now and I know they are happy to see former CSK captain, the lion smacking him all over the park, it hurts you. Because he has emotions. And he is 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.”
Hardik Pandya didn’t have a great day with bat and ball in the game against Chennai Super Kings. He gave away 26 runs in the r last over and also scored just 2 runs off 5 balls.