Hardik Pandya receives stern warning ahead of MI captaincy debut: ‘They pick holes out of your leadership’

A new era is all set to begin at Mumbai Indians with Hardik Pandya taking over the leadership charge in IPL 2024. Ahead of the upcoming season, the flamboyant all-rounder returned to the MI where he started his IPL journey.

Pandya left Gujarat Titans after leading them to back-to-back finals to prove his captaincy credentials on the big stage. However, replacing a five-time IPL-winning captain Rohit Sharma is going to be an uphill task for Hardik.

Meanwhile, it will also be the first time when Rohit will be playing under Hardik’s leadership and some reports already suggested that there is some unrest in the camp after MI made the big decision to change the captain.

Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody feels that being a respected player and a proven performer Pandya will get the support of his teammates in the upcoming season.

“He has got a team that will back up and take away the pressure of inconsistent performances. He will have the support of the Indian and overseas players because he is a highly respected cricketer and a performer as an all-rounder,” Moody told ESPNCricinfo.

However, Moody also asserted that captaincy becomes tricky when you start losing matches as people start questioning the decision-making straightaway.

“But, captaincy can be a completely different game once you lose two or three games and suddenly they pick holes out of your leadership, they pick holes out of the decisions you make,” added Moody.

Pandya led Gujarat Titans to IPL glory in their debut season in 2022 and then guided them to the final last season where Chennai Super Kings got the better of them.

However, in Mumbai, he will lead some big Indian superstars with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.

“When you are winning, you can make the craziest decisions and still people build them up to being genius strokes. Hardik has the credentials as the Gujarat Titans leader, he is tactically sound and he will be supported by all the senior players, both Indian and overseas,” said Moody.

Pandya’s captaincy test in Mumbai will begin against his former franchise Gujarat Titans on March 24 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad