IPL 2024: 'Won't earn team's respect': Former Indian all-rounder takes a jibe at MI skipper Hardik Pandya

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has been vocal about his criticism of Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya in the ongoing IPL 2024 edition. After MI lost their third game on the trot, losing to Rajasthan Royals (RR) by six wickets in match 14 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday (April 1), Irfan came down heavily on Hardik's captaincy. The ex-cricketer-turned-commentator lashed out at the all-rounder for his leadership and claimed that a captain 'won't earn his team's respect' if he doesn't do the difficult things himself.

On his official account on X, formerly Twitter, Irfan wrote after MI's loss, "You always want your Leader to do the difficult things. If he doesn’t do it he won’t earn his team’s respect."

You always want your Leader to do the difficult things. If he doesn’t do it he won’t earn his team’s respect. — Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 1, 2024

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Earlier, he had posted saying, "Not a rocket science to get your best bowler early on. Finally Bumrah with the new ball. It was forced cos of small total by RR."

Not a rocket science to get your best bowler early on. Finally Bumrah with the new ball. It was forced cos of small total by RR. — Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 1, 2024

Pathan has slammed Hardik's usage of MI's ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who underbowled in the powerplays in the earlier two games. In the match versus RR, Bumrah was given the ball for the second over, but Irfan stated that the move became mandatory following MI's flop show with the bat. Hardik has also been slammed for not making an impact with the ball and shuffling his batting position. Moreover, he has been booed by fans in every MI game so far, being targetted for replacing Rohit Sharma as the captain.

Talking about the MI-RR game, the home side were asked to bat first. Riding on Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal's three-fers and two scalps from Nandre Burger, RR restricted Mumbai to 122 for 9. In reply, Riyan Parag's mature inning, 39-ball 54*, took his side to their third win on the trot.

At the post-match presentation, Hardik said, "Yes, a tough night, we didn't start the way we wanted to start. I wanted to counter, we were in a decent position to get us around 150-160, but my wicket allowed them to get back more into the game, I needed to do a lot more. It's okay, we didn't expect such a surface, but you can't always have it as a batter, it's nice at times for the bowlers to have a say. It's all about doing the right things, (correct) results happen at times, at some other times it doesn't. As a group, we believe we can do a lot better, but we need to be a bit more disciplined and show a lot more courage."