Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen jokingly agreed with Gautam Gambhir’s recent criticism of him for his poor record as a captain. Pietersen humorously acknowledged Gambhir’s remarks on social media, admitting to his shortcomings in leadership. This exchange stemmed from Gambhir’s response to Pietersen and AB de Villiers’ criticism of all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s captaincy during Mumbai Indians’ underwhelming IPL 2024 campaign.
Pandya faced intense scrutiny for his leadership as Mumbai Indians struggled in the tournament. Pietersen and de Villiers were among those who questioned Pandya’s capabilities as a skipper. However, Gambhir fired back, highlighting their own lacklustre records as captains and questioning their authority to critique Pandya.
In response to Gambhir’s remarks, Pietersen humorously acknowledged his own shortcomings as a captain on social media, admitting, “He’s not wrong. I was a terrible captain!!!”
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What did Gautam Gambhir say about Kevin Pietersen and AB de Villiers
Gambhir’s criticism didn’t spare de Villiers either, as he emphasized that Pandya had led Mumbai Indians to an IPL victory, unlike the former cricketers. He also rebuked de Villiers’ comment that Pandya’s leadership style was ego-driven.
“It’s not important what experts are saying, it’s their job to say something or the other. My opinion has always been that you judge someone’s captaincy by his team’s performance. If MI had performed well (this year), all experts would have been praising him. Today MI have not performed well and that’s why everyone is talking about it,” Gambhir stated on Sportskeeda.
“Judging him every day, every match, everything is not right. Those experts who have criticised him, they should see their own performances when they have captained a side. Whether it’s AB de Villiers or Kevin Pietersen. I don’t think in their career there is any performance of leadership, nothing. If you go and see their records, it’s worse than any other leader,” Gambhir added.
Mumbai Indians’ disappointing exit from the IPL 2024 playoffs sparked debates, especially surrounding the decision to replace Rohit Sharma with Pandya as captain. Despite high expectations, Mumbai Indians became the first team to be eliminated from the playoff race, raising questions about Pandya’s leadership and the team’s overall performance.
