IPL 2024: Gautam Gambhir schools AB de Villiers for criticising Hardik Pandya

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor Gautam Gambhir has lashed out at AB de Villiers for his recent comments on Hardik Pandya's captaincy. The former Indian batter did not pull any punches and said ABD was not fit to commenton Pandya as he had not captained in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Speaking to Sportskeeda, Gambhir said Pandya had returned to Mumbai Indians this year and that it takes time for a captain to have impact on a team, especially a serial trophy-winning team.

"It’s not important what experts are saying, it’s their job to say something or the other. My opinion has always been that you judge someone’s captaincy by his team's performance. If MI had performed well (this year), all experts would have been praising him. Today MI have not performed well and that’s why everyone is talking about it," said Gambhir.

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"Judging him every day, every match, everything is not right. Those experts who have criticised him, they should see their own performances when they captained a side. Whether it’s AB de Villiers or Kevin Pietersen. I don't think in their career there is any performance of leadership, nothing. If you go and see their records, it’s worse than any other leader," Gambhir said.

"So, you should compare oranges to oranges, not apples to oranges," Gambhir concluded.

What did ABD say?

Gambhir was responding to ABD's recent comments wherein the South African said Pandya’s ego-driven captaincy style that brought him results at Gujarat Titans, was not going to produce the same resultsat MI.

“The captaincy style of Hardik Pandya is quite bravado. It's ego-driven in a way, chest out. I don't think how he walks on the field is always genuine, but he has decided that is his way of captaincy," said ABD.

However, after his comments caused a social media storm, De Villiers released a clarification statement, blaming the media for spinning the quotes.

"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."

The former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter said even during his playing days, he had to put on an 'act' in front of the cameras, as Pandya is doing.

"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."

While Pandya reached two finals with GT, he failed to take MI into the playoffs, becoming the first team to crash out of IPL 2024. MI will now face Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday (May 17) at the Wankhede Stadium in what will be their final game of the season.

(With inputs from agencies)