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Cricket Players'Hardik Pandya not a bad captain': After getting criticised for shouting at Shami, GT skipper finds backing from legends
Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya found backing from Graeme Swann and Matthew Hayden despite losing his cool in an IPL 2022 match.
At a time when Hardik Pandya has been facing a lot of criticism from fans on social media for his outburst against senior pro Mohammed Shami, the Gujarat Titans captain found backing from noted former cricketers. Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann and Australian legend Matthew Hayden put their weight firmly behind Hardik. Despite a half-century from Hardik and a decent spell with the ball, Gujarat succumbed to their first loss of IPL 2022 as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat them by 8 wickets on Monday in Mumbai.
Hardik did not shy away from showing his emotions on the field. In the 13th over of the SRH chase, Hardik was hit for consecutive sixes by SRH captain Kane Williamson. A visibly upset India all-rounder tried to end the over on a high by banging short delivery to Williamson's partner Rahul Tripathi, who tried an uppercut over thirdman. Pandya would have been successful in ending the over on a high but Mohammed Shami, standing at thirdman, was late to react. He then stood his ground and collected the ball on the bounce instead of going for the catch.
Pandya was not happy with Shami's effort and was seen yelling at the veteran pacer, which did not go down well with the fans on social media.
Swann, however, said Hardik's captaincy should not be blamed.
"I will tell you what we shouldn't do though. We shouldn't look at it and say all of a sudden Hardik is not a good captain. The fact that they did not score enough runs lost them the game, not Hardik Pandya's captaincy. He shuffled his packs quite well but of course, your nerves get a bit fried as a skipper or a bowler (in tense situations). It was not Hardik's captaincy but the lack of runs that cost them," Swann told Star Sports.
Reacting to Shami's fielding effort, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden said the senior India pacer should have done better.
"I reckon this was a really pivotal moment in the match, he was bowling at good speed. Mohammed Shami was on the boundary and he made no effort. In fact, he retreated back to the boundary I won't say he avoided the catch necessarily." Hayden said.
"He really needed to go harder inside the boundary. When you are not defending much, it's about really working hard for your mates, and taking the effort catches and make the plays. Be it run-out or catches or just assists, in general, to stop a batter from scoring boundaries," he added.
