Gautam Gambhir slams AB de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen for criticizing Hardik Pandya with blunt 'no achievement' remark

The star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has had a miserable run of form as captain while leading the five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Indian Premier League. He has also faced severe criticism across all sides for his leadership.

The former SA skipper AB de Villiers and former England captain Kevin Pietersen questioned Hardik Pandya for his captaincy in the ongoing 17th edition of the Indian Premier League.

However, the criticism of Hardik Pandya from De Villiers and Pietersen didn’t go down well with the former India opener and currently the KKR mentor, Gautam Gambhir; he came up with a blunt answer while responding to the remarks of former SA and England skipper’s comments on Hardik Pandya.

“When these two captained, what were their performances? I don’t think Kevin Pietersen and AB de Villiers achieved anything remarkable as captains. When you look at their records, it is worse than any other leader,” said Gambhir on Sportskeeda.

“I don’t think AB de Villiers has led in IPL. If AB has, I don’t think he has achieved anything apart from his scores,” he added.

"Hardik Pandya is still an IPL-winning captain" - Gautam Gambhir

Furthermore, Gambhir also spoke about Hardik Pandya’s success as captain with his previous franchise Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League 2022 when GT won the title in their first-ever appearance in the Indian Premier League.

“Hardik Pandya is still an IPL winning captain. So you should compare oranges to oranges and not oranges to apples,” said Gambhir.

Speaking of MI’s performance in the IPL 2024 under Hardik’s captaincy, they have won only 4 matches out of the 13 games they have played so far, including 9 defeats, registering only 8 points to their name. Notably, Mumbai Indians were the first team to  get eliminated from the tournament.