Hardik Pandya’s style of captaincy ‘ego-driven’ and not genuine: AB de Villiers

South African batting great AB de Villiers described Hardik Pandya’s style of leadership as “ego-driven” and full of “bravado” and explained why it failed to click with the Mumbai Indians even though brought plenty of success for the Gujarat Titans.

Pandya joined MI in a high-profile, all-cash trade from GT last year shortly before the auction, with the franchise soon naming him captain, bringing the curtains down on Rohit’s decade-long reign as leader.

His maiden season as Mumbai skipper, however, has been far from ideal. Pandya been booed by fans at several venues including their home ground of the Wankhede Stadium, besides getting trolled on social media.

Also Read | ‘Not even MS Dhoni…’: Hardik Pandya opens up on ‘failing and learning’

Additionally, MI’s performances have also taken a massive hit this year with the five-time champions becoming the first team to get eliminated from the playoffs race . There have also been reports of tensions within the Mumbai camp and a divide between current skipper Pandya and former captain Rohit.

“The captaincy style of Hardik Pandya is quite bravado. It’s ego-driven in a way, chest out," de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“I don’t think how he walks on the field is always genuine, but he has decided that is his way of captaincy. Almost like MS. Cool, calm, collective, always got your chest out.

“When you play with a lot of experienced players, guys who have been around for ages, they don’t buy into that. It worked at GT, where it was a younger team. Sometimes, inexperienced players love to follow that kind of leadership,” de Villiers added.

De Villiers cited the example of former South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who had taken over the reins of a Proteas side in transition in 2003 at the age of 22, while dissecting the dynamics of Pandya’s captaincy this season.

“I remember Graeme Smith. He was out there for the team. All I needed to do as a youngster was to follow. Now, there’s a Rohit, there’s a Bumrah. They go like, ‘All we need you to be is calm. Give us a bit of input on how to win matches. We don’t need the bravado'.

“I’m not having a go at Hardik. I love watching him play. I love him putting out his chest because I was like that. I believed that as a batter, sometimes, you’ve got to fake it to make it,” de Villiers, popularly known as ‘Mr 360’ for his wide range of strokeplay, added.

Pandya had led the Gujarat to back-to-back finals, helping them win the IPL on debut in 2022 followed by a runner-up finish against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) the following year. However, he has failed to replicate that success with Mumbai — the franchise with whom he had begun his IPL journey in 2015 and would go on to represent them for seven seasons.

MI began the season with a hat-trick of defeats, and would never recover from the slow start unlike in previous seasons. The five-time champions became the first team to bow out of the playoffs race on Saturday after an 18-run defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Kolkata. This is the third time in four seasons that MI have failed to qualify for the knockouts, and currently face the prospect of finishing with the wooden spoon for the second time in three years.

Also Read | Rohit meets KKR coaches and players, fuels speculation over uncertain future at MI

They face Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at home in their final match of the season on Friday, with Pandya and Co hoping to sign off from what has been another disappointing season on a positive note and avoid finishing at the bottom.