India’s former head coach and commentator, Ravi Shastri, came out in support of Hardik Pandya. The newly appointed Mumbai Indians skipper is facing severe criticism from Mumbai and Gujarat fans. Several videos have surfaced online in which people were spotted using harsh comments for Pandya. In one viral video, fans were also seen throwing slippers at a screen showing Pandya.
Amid this controversy, many experts came out in support of the MI captain, including Steve Smith, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Sonu Sood. Now, former Indian cricketer Shastri has also joined the bandwagon and gave some vital advice to Pandya.
Ravi Shastri’s key advice for Hardik Pandya
Shastri suggested that Pandya should remain patient and ignore all the hatred coming towards him. He also said that things will change when he leads his team to victory in the next two or three games.
“My thing to Hardik would be ‘calm, patient, ignore and then just focus on your game’. You get a couple of performances going..they are a terrific side, if they win 3 or 4 matches, everything will subside. You will, things will change,” Shastri said while talking to Star Sports.
Slamming the online trolls, Shastri added, “You know social media. All sorts of things will come out, there are a lot of bullcrap out there. Some of the stories out there are planted. It’s just planted on other people’s names. Ignorance is bliss.”
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MI management is not wrong
Apart from Hardik, the entire Mumbai management is also facing the wrath of fans since Pandya replaced Rohit Sharma as captain. Rohit fans have alleged that the decision to remove him as captain is an insult to the person who has brought five IPL trophies for the team. Defending the management here, Shastri said that the owners reserve the right to decide who the captain of the team should be.
“See, at the end of the day, this is not an Indian cricket team that is playing. This is franchise cricket. They have paid top dollar, they are the bosses. It’s their entitlement as to who they want as captain,” explained the 61-year-old.
Even though Shastri spoke in favour of Mumbai’s management, he still pointed out some mistakes that eventually led to criticism of Pandya and the team management. According to him, the way Rohit was replaced created some communication errors and angered the fans.
“Where I think this could have been handled better is more clarity in communication. If you wanted as captain, say you’re looking at the future, looking to build, we are doing a fabulous job as every one knows and we want him to help out Hardik in the next 3 years when the team is in progress. That communication should have come out a little more for all this to die down. It’s not a case of you saying ‘we don’t want Rohit Sharma’, or he was treated badly,” Shastri concluded.
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