He is not the Hardik Pandya who left Mumbai Indians two seasons ago, nor the Hardik Pandya who led the Gujarat Titans to two consecutive Indian Premier League finals. Hardik’s performance as captain of Mumbai Indians was mediocre, and his bowling and batting skills were also unsatisfactory. Indian cricket superstar highlighted all the mistakes Hardik made during Sunday’s match against Chennai Super Kings, and former England captain Kevin Pietersen also weighed in, highlighting his role in captaincy decisions as well as as a batsman and errors in execution by the bowlers.

Pietersen, in a chat with Star Sports, emphasized that Hardik should bowl spinners early in the game as fast bowlers are losing a lot of runs.

“What I saw tonight wasn’t good enough. I saw a captain who had a plan A in a team meeting five hours ago but didn’t want to do a plan B when he should have done it. What the hell is going on? When your Didn’t you bowl the spinner when the seamers were going for 20 runs? ! Brain Lara said in the comments, “Can we please have the spinner? “They have spinners who can bowl and you need to change the tempo of the game,” he said.

“It’s affecting him, it’s affecting his cricket and something needs to happen” – #KevinPeterson Hardik’s last game @msdhoni And the ups and downs of his captaincy!

| Watch gaming legends, #SunilGavaskar and @KP24 talk more @hardikpandya7leader! … pic.twitter.com/QxCKE6KXf8

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 14, 2024

Pietersen also believes off-field issues are affecting the Indian all-rounder, referring to the anger over Hardik replacing Rohit as captain of Mumbai Indians. The England superstar hopes the issue can be resolved soon as it has left a lasting impact on Hardik.

“I think for Hardik, everything outside the game affects him a lot. When he throws the ball, he smiles too much. He tries to act like he is happy. He is not happy! I have experienced that too .I have been through it and I can tell you, what happened to Hardik Pandya… We hear the boos now and how happy it is to see Dhoni beating him in the park, it hurts You. He is an Indian player and he does not want to be treated like this and it will affect him and his cricket,” the former batsman said.