Hardik Pandya was subject to unprecedented criticism during his first season as Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper, with the fans complaining about Rohit Sharma’s ouster from the captaincy position. The criticism was palpable as even MI fans booed him during games. To add to the pressure, MI had a disastrous campaign, landing at the bottom of the points table, and questioning Hardik’s leadership.
Turning the Tide with World Cup and Champions Trophy Triumphs
Flash forward to March 2025, Hardik has put his critics in their place. His outstanding performance enabled India to win the T20 World Cup recently and the newly won Champions Trophy. The welcome was radically different when he arrived on the ground during India’s T20 World Cup felicitation ceremony—this time welcomed with thunderous applause.
Looking back at his journey of redemption, Hardik expressed himself in an episode of JioStar’s Superstars.
“I Had to Hold My Ground”
“It’s always a question of when you don’t leave the battlefield. In my case, it was surviving, perhaps not winning. It was a year when, for the longest time, I had to stand my ground, not leave the battlefield which was the ground. I understood how things were going, that cricket will be my best friend, and he will bail me out of it,” Hardik explained.
He highlighted the way perseverance and commitment eventually reversed his luck.
“Yes, it persisted, I persisted, kept pushing. And I think when all the hard work and everything arrived, I don’t think I wouldn’t be able to write a script, which it ended up being in my life. That six months of my phase where winning the World Cup and returning and receiving the kind of love we received. I think it was a complete 360 turnaround for me. And I think cricket was something which I knew that if I be persistent, if I be honest with my work, if I be really hardworking, I think I’ll be able to come out of this. But when I didn’t know, as exactly said, it was written in the script by the God where it ended up being two and a half months,” he added.
Mumbai Indians’ IPL 2025 Squad Strategy
Hardik also spoke about MI’s auction strategy for the upcoming IPL season, highlighting the importance of experience in their squad.
“This season, the plan was to gain experience. I believe you can make out from the entire sheet where we wanted an experienced bowling unit. Because Wankhede is where you get tested, and it can be very daunting playing in IPL in Mumbai, in Wankhede,” he said.
He said the team set a plan for gaining bowlers with swing and bounce to benefit from the conditions at Wankhede.
“And the wickets are also high-scoring. So we wanted to target individuals who have plenty of experience at the same moment in time, who’ve got the swing, who’ve got the bounce on that surface, which we can try and get the best out of. And I think somehow we have, we have built a very gun team where top to bottom we’ve been able to deliver. It’s just that we all now have to turn up,” he added.
Starting afresh in IPL 2025, Hardik hopes to take MI on a solid campaign with the strength of experience and a team constructed to deal with pressure situations.