Mumbai Indians captain and all-rounder Hardik Pandya has come under the sword from fans and former cricketers after yet another mediocre performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Hardik faced brutal criticism from prominent former players after losing to the Kings in a high-profile match against Chennai Super League on Sunday. Hardik, bowling in the final over, was torn apart by 42-year-old MS Dhoni, conceding 20 runs in the last four balls. His decision to bowl at the absolute end was questioned by many, including former India all-rounder Irrfan Pathan. (IPL 2024 Points Table)

Pandya has been booed and heckled by fans since taking over as MI captain and he found himself in the line of fire. Hardik came under public criticism from Irrfan, who questioned the former Gujarat Titans skipper’s decision-making.

Pandya conceded 26 runs against Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the final, which proved to be a win for the Chennai Super Kings with 20 The points advantage was decisive in defeating MI.

Irrfan believed that the decision to surrender to Akash Madhwar showed his lack of confidence in the latter.

Hardik Pandya’s bowling in the final over showed his lack of confidence in Akash madhwal’s bowling and his own lack of skill as a death bowler.

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 14, 2024

The likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Kevin Pietersen also questioned Hardik’s captaincy during the game.

“Oh, definitely average bowling, average captaincy. Although Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dubey batted well together, they should be restricted. I do believe they should be restricted 185-190,” Gavaskar said.

“This is probably the worst bowling I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports during the inter-innings break when CSK posted 206 for four.

“It seemed like I was almost hugging my hero. I had the kind of pitch that he would hit for a six. A six would do. When you know what the batsman is looking for, the next one is a long ball The long ball he wanted to hit.

“When you know he (Dhoni) is looking for a six, the third ball is another full leg toss.” Pandya ended with figures of 2 for 43 in four overs and was The bat side also struggled, scoring just two runs off 6 balls at the crucial juncture of the match, while MI, despite a 63-ball stand, ended with 105 for 6 by former skipper Rohit Designed by Rohit Sharma.

Pandya faced the wrath of fans from the very first game and boos followed him even at the Wankhede Stadium, forcing Rohit (against Rajasthan Royals) and Virat Kohli (at MI against Royal Challengers Bangalore) asked the crowd to calm down a little.

Peterson feels the outside noise is taking its toll on the flamboyant all-rounder.

“In fact, I think, for Hardik Pandya, everything outside the game affected him a lot. When he tossed the ball, he smiled too much. He tried to act as if he Very happy. He was not happy. I’ve been through this too and I can tell you now that it affects you.

“The boos we just heard, I know they are happy to see the former CSK captain (Dhoni), the lion, slapping him (Hardik) all over the park, it hurts you. Because he has emotions. And he is An Indian player, he doesn’t want to be treated like this, so when this happens, it affects him, it affects his cricket and something needs to be done,” the 43-year-old former batsman also wondered. Why didn’t Pandya use his spinners when the pacers were targeted by CSK batsmen.

“What I saw tonight wasn’t good enough. I saw a captain who had a plan A in a team meeting five hours ago and a captain who was supposed to go to plan B but didn’t want to go to plan B. .

“Like on this earth, when your seamer is going to score 20 runs, how can you not play spin? Brian Lara said can we play spin? Someone needs to play here .” MI will next face Kings XI Punjab in Chandigarh on April 18.

With PTI input