Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya seems to be having a challenging time in the high-profile Indian Premier League 2024 tournament so far. Pandya replaced cricketing superstar Rohit Sharma as captain of the Mumbai Indians before the 17th Tata IPL began. If social media was critical of Pandya and his bid for captaincy then, the internet seems livid now, hating on Hardik Pandya, hurling abuse and echoing the boos from the stadia.
Indeed, every gesture, every captaincy decision Pandya makes is weighed and judged - whether it is the perceived snubs towards MI senior Lasith Malinga or a sign from Rohit Sharma to fortify the field in one place. (For context, similar guidance from former captain MS Dhoni to new Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad has elicited a very different response on social media.)
While MI won five IPL titles under Sharma from 2013-23, the Mumbai franchise has lost two out of two matches under Pandya's leadership in IPL 2024 so far - first against the Gujarat Titans and then, the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Also, some of the criticism against Hardik Pandya for not playing India matches ahead of the IPL this year, stuck.
Having said that, no player deserves abuse and casteist slurs. A cool campaigner, Hardik Pandya will have to find a way to cut out the noise since most of it is Internet-generated. He will have to stop reading and scrolling social media. Otherwise, it may hamper his natural skills as a cricketer, irrespective of the leadership.
Erred as captain
Pandya made a few tactical errors as captain. It may or may not be related to the performance pressure, but there has been no cricketing analysis. The focus has been on personal attacks. Pandya did not bat up the order against the Gujarat Titans and sent Tim David. He could have led from the front and closed the match. The target was 169, and MI was cruising. David ate up deliveries with 11 off 10, and that hurt MI.
Pandya used Jasprit Bumrah for one over in the first 13 overs against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He wanted to save the speedster for power-hitter Heinrich Klaasen. Before the South African could explode, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma had added 68 off 23 balls.
These are practical errors, and most new captains have been under the pump in their early days.
Pandya needs support
At one stage, former captain Rohit was busy setting the field as Pandya ran out of ideas while SRH was on a rampage. The 30-year-old needs guidance from seniors and support from the people in Mumbai. He is one of those captains who believes in operating with set plans without much improvisation on the spot, which may not work in every franchise.
Nonetheless, an IPL-winning captain who played two finals as a leader must have something in him. He can take a leaf out of Brendon McCullum and Steve Smith and learn how they dealt with leadership pressure in 2009 and 2017. The New Zealander had replaced Sourav Ganguly, while the Australian was captain of Rising Pune Supergiant where M.S. Dhoni, the great IPL captain, played as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
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