Kevin Pietersen, the former England cricketer, has voiced his concerns about the impact of public criticism on Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai Indians’ skipper in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Kevin Pietersen speaks about negative impact on Hardik Pandya
Pietersen noted that Pandya, who took over from Rohit Sharma as the captain of Mumbai Indians, has been facing severe criticism. He has been greeted with boos and crowd hostility during matches at the Wankhede and Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
On April 14, Mumbai Indians lost to Chennai by 20 runs. Pandya, who leaked 26 runs in the last over, was not at his best and scored only 2 runs. Pietersen believes that the criticism and the crowd’s reaction have negatively impacted Pandya’s game.
Kevin Pietersen stated, “I think with Hardik Pandya, everything away from the game is affecting him so much. He’s smiling too much when he is at the toss; he is trying to act like he is so happy. He’s not happy, I have been there, I have been in the firing line and I can tell you that it affects you”.
He further added, “If what’s happening to Hardik, the boos that we’ve been hearing now and how happy they are to see Dhoni 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”.
"It's affecting him, it's affecting his cricket and something needs to happen" – #KevinPietersen on Hardik's last over vs @msdhoni and the ups and downs of his captaincy!
📹 | Watch the legends of the game, #SunilGavaskar and @KP24 talk more about @hardikpandya7's leadership!… pic.twitter.com/QxCKE6KXf8
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 14, 2024
Kevin Pietersen also criticized Pandya for not introducing spinners into the attack when the fast bowlers were leaking runs at an alarming rate. He expressed his concern about the impact of the crowd’s reaction on Pandya and emphasized the need for a supportive environment for the player.
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