Just ahead of the start of IPL 2024, Mumbai Indians made the mega move to bring Hardik Pandya back from Gujarat Titans. Hardik Pandya led Gujarat Titans to an IPL title in the very first season in IPL 2022. In IPL 2023, he led GT to the final where they lost to MS Dhoni‘s Chennai Super Kings. However, ahead of IPL 2024, MI just did not bring him back, but also made him the captain replacing the five time IPL winning captain and Indian captain Rohit Sharma. It was reported that Hardik Pandya kept a captaincy clause in his contract to return to Mumbai Indians.
Hardik Pandya was then brutally trolled and abused on social media by Rohit Sharma fans and majority of Indian fans. There was evident discontent among the Indian fans citing that the Indian captain and the legendary Mumbai Indians’ captain, Rohit Sharma, has been disrespected. However, it did not just stay on the social media. Pandya was brutally trolled, abused, jeered and booed by the Ahmedabad crowd in the first game against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad. He received the same treatment in Hyderabad in the next game and was even taunted with chants of ‘Rohit, Rohit’. Moreover, Mumbai Indians have also lost both their matches and even conceded the highest total in IPL history to Sunrisers Hyderabad. In this article we will take a look at the 2 reasons why Hardik Pandya should step down as the captain of Mumbai Indians:
2 Reasons Why Hardik Pandya Should Immediately Step Down As The captain Of Mumbai Indians:
1. His batting form is getting affected
The pressure, the abuses and the trolls are affecting Hardik Pandya the batter. Hardik Pandya, the batter, is of paramount important to Team India. He has stepped up in crucial moments when the top order has failed. Amidst all these pressure and abuses, his batting is getting severely affected. He failed with the bat in both the matches. Moreover, Mumbai nearly chased down the mammoth total of 278 runs against SRH, but still lost by 31 runs as Hardik Pandya failed to get going and scored 24 runs off 20 balls. With the T20 World Cup 2024 coming up, Pandya should relieve the pressure on him and play freely without pressure.
2. Captaincy blunders under tremendous pressure:
He is even making some tactical blunders under the intense amount of pressure and the lack of support that he has from the fans. In the first game, he pushed himself down the order and sent Tim David ahead to face Rashid khan. Mumbai Indians then stumbled from a position where they were looking comfortable to chase down the total. In the second game, when Travis Head was going all guns blazing in the powerplay, he just bowled one over from Jasprit Bumrah, who is the best bowler in the world currently.
