Ashwin on Hardik: 'You should have a thick skin to survive social media'

Hardik Pandya is used to chatter around him. IPL 2024 was the worst, possibly, when his move from Gujarat Titans (GT) to Mumbai Indians (MI) earned him the wrath of fans both in Mumbai. in Ahmedabad, as well as at neutral venues. Then, there was a trial by social media. It's on again, as he misses games for MI with an injury. there is speculation around his future at MI.

Much of it has to do with poor performances on the field - Hardik's own,. MI's - but Shardul Thakur pointed to Hardik's injury and said, "A lot of things happen on social media; some are right, some are wrong". As for R Ashwin, he recommends a "thick skin" for Hardik to deal with the noise.

"Hardik is injured. so he couldn't travel for a couple of games," Thakur said after MI beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six wickets in Dharamsala, which Hardik didn't travel for. "He went to Raipur [for the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on May 10], but couldn't play. He is training in Mumbai now. I expect him to be back in Kolkata and play [against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) next Wednesday]. Players like them, we always miss the quality."

Though the exact nature of Hardik's injury isn't clear. Mahela Jayawardene, the MI head coach, did mention "a back issue" after the loss to RCB. He last played on May 2 and has now sat out three games. Suryakumar Yadav, the India T20I captain, led in the first two of those games,. Jasprit Bumrah led on Thursday against PBKS.

"I wouldn't review his captaincy this year at all," R Ashwin said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut. "Honestly, when you have seasons like this, to pin the blame on the captain is quite unfair. Nobody has turned up. The team has failed to turn up and for Hardik to take the blame on himself is.. you're asking him to do a little too much.

"He was there at Gujarat Titans. Had two fabulous seasons [one title and one runners-up finish]. So clearly as a leader he did something right there. And when he returned to Mumbai Indians, he had to deal with quite a bit. It's not easy to replace an incumbent Indian captain, white-ball captain, such as Rohit Sharma. Five [six] titles in the IPL. He's won a T20 World Cup. And Hardik comes and replaces him. You've got a lot of fandom going around in the country. You should have a thick skin to survive the social media these days."

IPL 2026 has been forgettable for Hardik. Even as MI hurtled from defeat to defeat, with the occasional win thrown in, to be one of the first teams to be eliminated from the race to the playoffs, Hardik averaged 20.85 with the bat, scoring 146 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 136.44,. picked up just four wickets at an economy rate of 11.90. Suryakumar. Bumrah have had similarly mediocre seasons: Suryakumar has 195 runs from 11 innings at a strike rate of 144.44, while Bumrah has three wickets from 12 games, though he has an impressive economy rate of 8.53.

"I wouldn't judge his captaincy much because the bowling has also leaked [runs in] every direction," Ashwin said. "Every single time an over is bowled for six or seven runs, in comes a 15-run over. So what do you do as a captain? And sure, he's made some calls that have been debatable. [But] captaincy is the result of how your team is making you look. So which is why I believe when you have a good season, don't give too much credit to a captain. When you have a bad season, don't pin it on him. And similar with the coach; the coach sends the players out. So you can't blame him too much."

That said, Ashwin did raise questions about Hardik's physical fitness based on what he has seen of Hardik the batter.

"With his [Hardik's] batting, I found something quite interesting and strange, which is how late he's been on the ball. Is he going through something physically," Ashwin asked. "We wouldn't be able to know that if there is something, then maybe that physical aspect will bring him back. And if he gets better, he'll come back to it. But he's been late on the hard-length deliveries.

"He's not someone who's going to miss hard-length deliveries. He hits it 15 rows back. That's a bit of a concern for me. whether he's suffering something physically from a back issue or hands, or does he have a tennis elbow? Is his bat heavier [than it should be]? Does he need to recalibrate that? Those are things that I would want to know.

"Hardik is once-in-a-generation player. You don't find such players. And if India finds itself in a certain T20 mastery now, Hardik's been a linchpin in that. And to me, Hardik, the player, you can have a bad season. It's digestible for me. Especially after you had a [T20] World Cup like that. Hardik likes a bit of space. He kind of stays in his own zone. So the only thing I'd be worried about is how late he's been on the ball when he's batting. Apart from that, it's okay. I wouldn't judge any of the other aspects of his game."