Capetown

Legendary South African cricketer AB de Villiers has hit back after his comments regarding Hardik Pandya's captaincy were seemingly misconstrued. De Villiers expressed disappointment over the issue, adding he loves the way Hardik leads a team.

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ABD issued the response after he suggested Pandya's captaincy was "ego-driven" which had brought him success at Gujarat Titans but the seniors in the MI camp were unable to adjust to such a style of captaincy.  

"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 a video posted on his YouTube channel. 

"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."

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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." 

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Rift in MI camp?

A recent Indian Express report, citing sources close to MI stated that senior Indian players of the team viz. Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav held a meeting, voicing their displeasure over Pandya's style of captaincy, suggesting that the team had lost its joy and morale as the season dragged on. 

The source said the meeting was necessitated as the team that was captained by Rohit for the last 10 years, was still coming to terms with the change of guard. 

Also read | Rift brewing in MI? Star Indian players hold meeting to discuss Hardik Pandya's captaincy

Pandya faces criticism

Pandya has invited criticism from pundits for not having a Plan B when things get south for him. Additionally, his tendency to single out players has not gone down well within the MI camp. 

Notably, after MI's loss against the Delhi Capitals, Pandya said Tilak Varma should have targeted Axar Patel more and attributed the defeat to a lack of game knowledge.

However, Pandya's criticism felt misplaced as Varma remains Mumbai's highest run-scorer this season and had a fantastic inning, scoring 63 runs off of 32 deliveries. 

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)