Hardik Pandya hasn't had the support of the fans in the 2024 edition of the IPL and with all the noise around the Mumbai Indians and the whole captaincy switch, the five-time champions' performance and the skipper's own form hasn't helped the cause either. Including the defeat against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Monday, Mumbai Indians have lost five matches now and apart from all the other factors, Pandya's comments after the defeats have only heightened the animosity.
Pandya's comments of everything being positive, bowlers doing good despite the evident loss of form for the players hasn't gone down well with many as several former cricketers have suggested that all the noise is affecting Hardik but isn't showing and hasn't been that honest as well in the post-match interviews.
Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn levelled a criticism to the players in general but kept it cryptic enough and timed it well that everyone knew who he was aiming at, in terms of players being more honest in their assessment of the match and their performance.
"I really look forward to the day players might say what’s honestly on their mind. Instead we some how dumbed ourselves and our minds into saying the usual safe thing, lose the next game, smile and then repeat that nonsense again," Steyn wrote on Twitter (now X).
Mumbai Indians had a poor start with the bat, losing three wickets in the powerplay but recovered well through the Nehal Wadhera-Tilak Varma partnership, only to give up advantage in the end as they ended up 20-25 runs short of a good score. While bowling, Mumbai Indians had a shocker of a day in the field, missing a couple of catches, ground fielding being poor and some of the decisions were not aggressive and the Royals chased 180 runs down without any discomfort.
After the match, Hardik said, "Overall, we did not put the right foot on the park and eventually they outplayed us. After the game, it's not the right time to go to the players, everyone is professional, they know their roles. What we can do is learn from this game and the mistakes which we have made, rectify it and make sure that we don't make it. Progression is very important."
