Is Hardik the Macbeth of IPL 2024?

‘Macbeth’, the play written by William Shakespeare, is considered as one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies set in Scotland. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political and social ambition on those who seek power and fame and a lesson to ordinary mortals. The brazen Scottish General, Macbeth, received a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he would become the king of Scotland. Consumed by ambition, temptation and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth ruined his own glorious future. His fatal flaw was pride that led to wild ambition.

Hardik Pandya was strategically convinced for accepting the reins of Mumbai Indians. His ambition had ultimately taken control of all his cognitive senses. He was not contented with the name and fame and accolades he won as the captain of Gujarat Titans. It was popularly felt that he should have rejected the idea and allowed nature to take its own course. But can any normal individual be away from temptations? Pandya is the ambitious cataclysmic hero here. Throughout the matches he was battling himself over captaincy vs captaincy. Even though ambition is his flaw he is still seen as a great player, an all-rounder. His ability to be easily manipulated led to his fall from the eyes of his fans and countless others. If he had not succumbed to pressure and stuck to his gut feeling he wouldn’t have been a weak wicket.

Some feel that he was not a loyalist but a betrayer who joined hands with the warring franchise and stabbed it from behind. I am sure Pandya must have struggled with the idea of betraying. He did love the game and the franchise but when the golden opportunity was offered on a silver platter he acted quickly before the chance slipped out of his hands. He, it appeared, was concerned with the future of himself and nothing else. He didn’t for a minute think how he would handle the huge, loyal, die-hard fans of Rohit Sharma. Many ex-cricketers expressed concern over Pandya’s leadership style, suggesting that it lacked genuineness. It’s important to have authenticity in leadership particularly whileworking with experienced players. It should be a calm,self-less approach rather than assertive style.

Pandya’s on field abilities were admired and his approach to the game was respected by many till 2023 IPL. But in 2024 the 30-year old’s captaincy style was criticized ‘ego-driven’ and ‘chest-out’.Pandya had taken over as captain of Mumbai Indians after a successful stint with Gujarat Titans in the last two years. The decision of appointing Pandya as captain over Rohit Sharma had not gone down MI buffs and they booed the all-rounder during almost all the matches they played. The performance of the MI in this year’s IPL had given chance to cricketers and experts to question his ability as captain.The players who criticized Pandya should look back and analyse their own performances and records. It is easier being said than done.Those who bitterly criticized him never captained the teams. The visuals of a shattered and dispirited Hardik Pandya from the MI dug out reminded me of Macbeth’s desperation towards the end of the play, ‘’No matter how we choose to live our destiny, fate cannot be changed’’.

Hardik had everything at Gujarat Titans but chose toruin things for both the teams. Greed never pays.MI had almost the same team plus Hardik Pandya and it was out of IPL giving one of the worst performances.It was just the lack of team spirit and support from each other. Any team game’s win depends on the team spirit and stand by to boost each other’s morale. It is not Pandya to be blamed, it is also the team that has not rallied behind the captain which was quite obvious.The MIteam looked confused throughout the season with their dressing room in turmoil.Pandya faced the ire of both the admirers and experts.Hitters had only sporadically shown up this season. It was a collective dip in form. It should not be forgotten that Hadik had led an IPL side to victory as recently as 2022.After guiding the 2022 winners to back-to- back finals, Hardik completed his IPL home coming by rejoining MI, which in the past has been done by many including change of captains quite often. It is easy to diagnose the losing team’s flaws. Don’t love to hate Hardik. The rock star captain of MI is talented, flashy and unapologetic. Question the MI mismanagement by the franchise. It is the MI bosses who should be carrying the Can, who should be facing the music, who should be dealing with most of the fan anger and not Hardik Pandya. They chose to remain silent leaving the captain to deal with it by himself. The franchise and the former cricket greats who are part of the management seemed to be unmoved by the controversy, exuding an attitude and body language that all is well, and they owe the fans no answer. The fans must knowwhom to question and call out. Hidden in the anger and emotions of the fans is a message for the franchise. ‘We call the shots because we promote your brand and we deserve the answer’.

What is needed is more maturity from the fans and a better understanding of the situation and the clout.Let every one of us understand that IPL is just a 2-month circus, an entertainment. For the rest of the year all these players need to forget their franchise and combine as ‘TEAM INDIA’. The friction and mis-understanding should not under-mine the morale of ‘The Men in Blue’.