Delhi: The last few months have been full of challenges for Indian cricket team's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya. His performance while captaining Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 was not satisfactory, due to which he came under the target of cricket fans and former players. In particular, former all-rounder Irfan Pathan had strongly criticized Hardik. However, Hardik's brilliant performance in the T20 World Cup final changed the perception towards him.

Hardik captained the Mumbai Indians in the IPL held before the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Mumbai and Rohit fans were upset with the decision to hand over the captaincy to Hardik in place of veteran opener Rohit Sharma and they booed Hardik fiercely.

Five-time champion Mumbai Indians handed over the captaincy to Hardik in place of Rohit before IPL 2024, which was opposed a lot. Mumbai Indians' performance this season was very disappointing and the team could not even qualify for the playoffs. Even the team in blue jersey was at the bottom of the points table, i.e. 10th place.

In a conversation with a sports channel, Irfan Pathan told that he had criticized Hardik because his performance in IPL 2024 did not live up to expectations. Irfan said, “Hardik Pandya's journey has been special. He has made a strong comeback leaving behind the criticism. Hardik had made many mistakes during the IPL, due to which he was criticized.”

Criticism of Hardik decreased after the World Cup

It is worth noting that after Hardik's brilliant performance in the final of T20 World Cup 2024, the criticism against him has reduced and his comeback has given a new confidence to his supporters. This journey has given Hardik an opportunity to prove his importance in the cricket world once again. He played an important role in giving his team a historic victory by bowling the last over against South Africa.