Former South Africa batsman AB de Villiers has given a clarification on his recent comments about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy.
Hardik Pandya joined Mumbai Indians before IPL 2024 and replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of the team. He was under pressure right from the start after replacing one of the most successful captains in the history of the IPL and failed to live up to the expectations.
Mumbai Indians became the first team to be knocked out of IPL 2024 last week. At present, they are languishing at the ninth spot in the points table with just eight points from 13 games.
With Hardik Pandya failing to impress in his first season as Mumbai Indians’ captain, AB de Villiers raised a number of eyebrows by saying that the India allrounder’s ‘captaincy style is quite bravado, ego driven and chest out’.
“The captaincy style of Hardik Pandya is quite bravado. It’s ego-driven in a way, chest out,” de Villiers had said on his YouTube channel.
“I don’t think how he walks on the field is always genuine, but he has decided that is his way of captaincy. Almost like MS (Dhoni). Cool, calm, collective, always got your chest out.
“When you play with a lot of experienced players, guys who have been around for ages, they don’t buy into that. It worked at GT, where it was a younger team. Sometimes, inexperienced players love to follow that kind of leadership,” he had added.
Many believed that AB de Villiers was taking a dig at Hardik Pandya with his comments. However, the legendary batsman has now said that his comments were misinterpreted while expressing his disappointment over the same. He also stated that he absolutely loves the way Pandya conducts himself on the field and cited his own example to back the under-pressure India star.
“I see there is a lot of activity on X about the comments I made about Hardik Pandya and Mumbai Indians. And it’s a shame that journalism and reporting has got so low (laughs). And I am very happy that some of you have pointed it out, taking some of those comments out and leaving the rest,” de Villiers said in his YouTube show on Monday (May 13).
“I very clearly stated and I will state this again — I absolutely love the way Hardik Pandya plays his game. I love the way he captains. All I can say is, his style of captaincy is something that he has certainly worked on. It’s not something that you can just walk out of the door and you are a brave captain.
“Why I said it’s always not genuine is because I played exactly the same way. I was not the soft-spoken, genuine AB de Villiers that I was at my home. The guy you saw on the field was in a way ‘an act’. Sometimes, you have to put up a front and show the opposition that you are a force to reckon with. That’s what Hardik Pandya does. I am saying that style is not always the easiest style to adapt to, especially for some senior players.
“I love Hardik Pandya, that’s what I said. To you reporters out there, I am sorry to burst your bubble,” he Villiers added.
Pandya and Mumbai Indians will be looking to finish their season on a high. The five-time champions will be taking on Lucknow Super Giants in their last game of the season.
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