‘Hardik Pandya’s words about MS Dhoni show lack of support within MI’: Adam Gilchrist

Mumbai Indians continue to make headlines for the wrong reasons due to unsatisfactory results. Hardik Pandya’s return as captain to the Mumbai Indians was expected to boost the team’s morale, but it did the opposite. Rohit Sharma’s captaincy departure has left a bitter taste among fans and Hardik continues to be booed on every pitch he goes to. However, after Sunday’s loss to Chennai Super Kings, Hardik found not only his captaincy in doubt but also his bowling and batting skills.

In fact, judging Hardik’s post-match comments on his team’s loss, Australian legend Adam Gilchrist painted an interesting picture when he asserted that all was not well within the Mumbai Indians.

“High-profile teams are victims of their own success. Often there are trades that happen out of the blue and fans feel like, ‘Come on, we didn’t invest in this’. They feel like they’re part of this big franchise. Ha. The way Dick was traded came out of nowhere and the switch from Rohit to Hardik… whether Rohit is happy or not or not, that’s where the feeling comes from,” said on Cricbuzz.

Hardik’s comments highlighted how CSK continue to benefit from Dhoni’s input, with the MI skipper seemingly asserting that things are different at MI.

“There’s a guy behind the stumps telling them what works,” Hardik said.

Expressing his views on the statement, Gilchrist said: “That line about Dhoni is interesting. It shows that he feels a bit like a lone wolf now. Maybe it all has some impact because He is going through a feeling that he doesn’t have support around him, but his observation about the opposition is, hold on, he (Gaikwad) has support there, which obviously tells me something about Hardik’s current mindset. Uncertainty and hesitation in the dugout.”

As a result, Mumbai Indians are ranked 8th in the standings with only 2 wins from 6 games, while CSK has moved up to 3rd place.