Gautam Gambhir and Kevin Pietersen. Photo- Twitter
Gautam Gambhir and Kevin Pietersen. Photo- Twitter

Kevin Pietersen has given a hilarious reply to Gautam Gambhir after he slammed the Englishman and former South African cricketer AB de Villiers for their lack of leadership qualities. Gambhir said so as he was defending MI captain Hardik Pandya, who was criticized by Pietersen and de Villiers.

Pandya, who managed Gujarat Titans in the previous two seasons, returned to MI for the current season, but he appeared unnerved by the tremendous outcry from Rohit Sharma fans who mocked him for replacing the five-time IPL champion.

Pandya made some terrible decisions as MI captain and was blamed for the team’s dismal performance in the IPL 2024, in which they won only four of 13 games and were eliminated from the tournament.

Gambhir defended Hardik Pandya and slammed AB de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen, saying that the players did not achieve anything as captains.

“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 has ever been performances in their careers from a leadership point of view. Nothing. If you look up their records, it would be worse than any other leader,” Gambhir told Sportskeeda.

“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.

Gautam Gambhir’s stance on AB de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen’s captaincy went viral on social media. Later that day, Pietersen took note of this and decided to comment.

“I was a terrible captain!!!” – Kevin Pietersen agrees with Gautam Gambhir’s statement on his leadership

The former England captain responded positively to Gambhir’s comments on his leadership. Pietersen agreed with Gambhir and added a couple laughing emojis to highlight the lighter side of things.

“He’s not wrong. I was a terrible captain!!!,” Pietersen wrote.

Pietersen has a dismal record as captain. He led England in 12 ODIs and three Tests, but won only four 50-over matches and one Test. In the IPL, he captained RCB and DC, but only won three of the 17 games.

Also Read: IPL 2024: ‘Horrible Decision Not To Bat First’ – Mohammad Kaif Questions KL Rahul’s Captaincy