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Mumbai Indians’ (MI) IPL 2024 campaign has been a season of disappointment, currently sitting at a lowly ninth position. Adding fuel to the fire, former South Africa international AB de Villiers has raised questions about Hardik Pandya‘s leadership style in his recent YouTube video.
AB de Villiers’ Concerns
De Villiers has expressed concern about Pandya’s “bravado” and “ego-driven” approach to captaincy. He suggested that this style, which might work with younger players, may not resonate with the experienced core of MI. He pointed out that senior players haven’t necessarily thrived under Pandya’s leadership.
“MI have been very disappointing.I backed them to qualify for the knockout stages, but that didn’t happen. What has gone wrong? 5th in 2021, 10th in 2022, 4th in 2023 and they are 9th. Rohit Sharma said, ‘I have played under a lot of captains. It’s nothing new. You do what you are required to do and I have been doing that for the last one month.’ You can read a little bit into that if you want to,” said De Villiers.
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He added: “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. 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.”
Reports of Unhappy Senior Players
De Villiers’ comments echo reports of discontent within the Mumbai camp. According to the Indian Express, senior players namely Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav recently held a meeting to address concerns about Pandya’s captaincy and its impact on team morale. Individual meetings were also reportedly held to delve deeper into the issues.