IPL 2024: Seniors at MI don’t buy Pandya’s ego-driven captaincy style, says AB de Villiers

HardikPandya’sappointment as MumbaiIndians’new skipper, replacing Rohit Sharma,didn’treap any rewards, at least considering this season, as they became the first team to get knocked out of IPL 2024. With a series of poor performances despite having the best players for each position,MI’sinability to click together is disappointing. Meanwhile, former RCB great AB de Villiers pinpointed where the problem lies.

Addressing his concerns regardingMumbai’sdownfall this season under the new leader, de Villiers saidPandya’sego-driven captaincy style was successful at Gujarat Titans, where he even won the IPL trophy in his first season as the GT skipper, but it’snot going to produce the same resultsat MI.

With several reports of a rift inside the MI dressing room already doing the rounds, AB deVilliers'latest remarks help everyone connect the dots.

Explaining what difference it makes, de Villiers said younger players might follow that kind of leadership, but with so many seniors around, much like at MI, acooland calm approach works better.

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“The captaincy style of Hardik Pandya is quite bravado.It'sego-driven in a way, chest out. Idon'tthink how he walks on the field is always genuine, but he has decided that is his way of captaincy.

“Almost like MS. Cool, calm, collective, always got your chest out. But when you play witha lot ofexperienced players, guys who have been around for ages...theydon'tbuy into that.

"It worked at GT, where it was a younger team. Sometimes, inexperienced players love to follow that kind of leadership,"de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

Pandya’sstyle led to decline inteam’smorale

Per the latest reports,certainseniors, including former captain Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah at MI held a meeting discussing howPandya’scaptaincy style led to decline inteam’smorale, eventually for the unit to fall apart and not click during this season.

Let alone his captaincy,Pandya’sperformance has been in mud this year across all departments. While he has just scored 198 runs from 12 contested matches, he has picked 12 wickets at an economy of over ten.

Looking at his performances, it remains to see how he leads MI in the remaining two matches this season.