Veteran India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has lashed out at legendary South Africa batter AB de Villiers for criticising Hardik Pandya's captaincy in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League. It has turned out to be a nightmare season for Hardik as he returned to Mumbai Indians this season with the added responsibility of the captain. The five-time champions became the first team to get knocked out of the playoffs race and languishing at the ninth spot on the points table.

The flamboyant India all-rounder faced criticism from the fans and former cricketers including Kevin Pietersen and AB de Villiers. The team failed to put up collective efforts on the field, as De Villiers said that Hardik's captaincy wasn't “always genuine” and was a bit ego-driven.

Meanwhile, Gambhir blasted De Villiers for criticising Pandya's leadership and said that the former RCB star himself has a poor record as a leader.

“When they themselves did captaincy [were captains], what were their own performances like? I do not think that whether it is Kevin Pietersen or AB de Villiers, there have ever been performances in their careers from a leadership point of view. Nothing. If you look up their records, I think it's worse than any other leader,” Gambhir said on Sportskeeda.

The two-time IPL-winning skipper made a bold statement that he failed to achieve anything with the team apart from his individual performances.

“I don’t think AB de Villiers has even captained any game in the IPL or ultimately achieved anything apart from his own scores. I do not think he has achieved anything from a team point of view. Hardik Pandya is still an IPL-winning captain. So, you should only compare orange to oranges, not apples to oranges,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Proteas legend tried to explain what he meant to say when calling Pandya's captaincy not genuine.

“Why I said it’s always not genuine is because I played exactly the same way. I was not the soft-spoken, genuine AB de Villiers that I was at home. The guy you saw on the field was in a way ‘an act’. Sometimes, you have to put up a front and show the opposition that you are a force to reckon with. That’s what Hardik Pandya does,” stated de Villiers.

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