Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Robin Uthappa feels that Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya might be going through mental stress amid all the negative reactions he is getting from fans in IPL 2024. The 30-year-old Hardik returned to MI in an off-season trade with Gujarat Titans (GT) and was also made the captain in place of Rohit. As a result, Hardik faced criticism from MI fans across the country.
BeerBiceps Speaking on his YouTube channel, Uthappa expressed sympathy towards Hardik and requested the fans to be nice to Hardik. They said that, “This guy knows… He is well aware of the jokes, trolling, memes about his fitness. Don’t you think it hurts him? It hurts any person.
How many people know its reality? Hardik is struggling with this, he is definitely mentally disturbed. I think we are emotional people. But it is unbecoming of us to impose this kind of behavior on any human being. We should not laugh at this, we should not carry it forward.”
The former cricketer further said, “He has the potential to become the greatest player of all time for the Indian team. The team that scouted him let him go, he went to another franchise. After winning 3-4 titles with them, he left. He must have felt a little bad because he went into GT, won one title and was runner-up in another.”
Things became worse for Hardik when he could not perform well as a player and captain this season. This season, Hardik has scored runs with the bat at an average of less than 24 and a strike rate of 146.87. His average in bowling was more than 41 and he gave runs at an economy rate of more than 11.