The Indian skipper imbibed a philosophical outlook to focus on India's disappointing 3-2 T20I series loss to the West Indies.
Hardik Pandya’s philosophical and futuristic take on India’s defeat in the T20I series decider against the West Indies hasn’t gone well down the fans, who have been extremely critical of the stand-in skipper for his “losing is good at times” remark.
The remarks came to light following India’s scratchy display in Florida and the painstaking eight-wicket loss, handing the side its first bilateral series defeat to the West Indies in six years. The last instance India couldn’t come out triumphant in a series of one or more games versus the Calypso Kings dates back to 2017.
While the sensible lot amongst the passionate Indian fandom recognise this is a team undergoing transition and had multiple first-choice cricketers rested for the tour, it was the lack of visible disappointment on the face of Hardik Pandya and a holier outlook about the defeat which triggered the angry reactions.
Fans felt the Indian captain is being insensitive and not displaying any fuss about their emotional investment towards the game and the Indian team.
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony following the 3-2 series loss to the Caribbean side, Hardik Pandya opted to look at the bigger picture instead of feeling bitterly dejected about the negative result and backed his young troops to eventually form the crux of a successful side at the next T20 World Cup.
Hardik also accepted that India lost “momentum” with his unconvincing and perhaps match-losing vigil of 14 off 18 balls in the first half and insisted he along with his team will get better with experience.
“We lost the momentum when I came in and couldn’t capitalize on the situation. I believe we gonna challenge ourselves,” he said. “We try to get better. In hindsight, it is fine. We don’t need to explain much. I know how the boys are within the group. We have enough time to figure out. Losing is good at times.”
But fans weren’t willing to accept such remarks and reacted angrily:
Besharam Pandya👏👏👏bol raha losing is good at times is se ghatiya captain kisi bhi team mai nahi hoga jo bolega losing is good @mohsinaliisb isko kahe kuch sharam kare kuch haya kare pic.twitter.com/N2ifEenhuf
— Akhilesh Sharma (@Akhiles06061410) August 13, 2023
Hardik pandya after losing series against Westendies
“ Its okay to be unique”
“Losing is good at times”
“On the positive side, we have done a lot of learnings”. #Hardik #Captain #WIvIND
Indian Cricket fans rn:👇 pic.twitter.com/QuN1ugVEdD
— Gaorav | गौरव | கௌரவ் | ગૌરવ | গৌরভ | گورو | ⚡ (@Gaoravism) August 13, 2023
Hardik pandya after losing series against Windices
“ Its okay to be unique”
“Losing is good at times”
“On the positive side, we have done a lot of learnings”.Cricket fans rn: pic.twitter.com/CUTmzJ1ZcH
— Fenil Kothari (@fenilkothari) August 13, 2023
#HardikPandya said ; “Losing is good at times. On the positive side, we have done a lot of learnings. We don’t need to explain much, I know how the boys are within the group.”@BCCI is there someone who can send this motormouth back to NCA to learn rudimentary cricket?@ImRo45
— श्री हरि🇮🇳 (@JaiHindLamba) August 13, 2023
The way Hardik Pandya have gone from selecting two teams and winning any tournament to Losing is good at times…
After next lose he will say that Indian team doesn’t play for Win !#INDvsWI pic.twitter.com/UAJ81GCxNk— TauTumhare (@TauTumhare) August 13, 2023
Now it’s very clear that IPL success of #HardikPandya is all because of Ashish Nehra, the guy literally stands near the boundary lines and guides him, Dravid is totally opposite and above all Hardik has got an arrogance of some level..
— Tiilooo 2.0 (@KasamCinemaaki) August 14, 2023
Dear @BCCI it’s high time to replace the captain! #HardikPandya ‘s poor captaincy doesn’t lead the team to semifinals also!
We miss the legends @imVkohli and @msdhoni ✨#India #WestIndies #INDvsWI #BCCI #T20Cricket #Pandya #Dravid #RahulDravid #RohitSharma
— Dhanush Reddy M (@DhanushMReddy) August 14, 2023
Mission Accomplished💪…Ban Gaya Unique 😬#WIvsIND #HardikPandya #SeriesDecider pic.twitter.com/RUMNOlEESe
— Virendrasing Suryawanshi (@Virenrajput1777) August 14, 2023
India has been a very very ordinary limited overs side for sometime now. They have been humbled by a West Indies side that failed to qualify for the T20 WC few months back. We had also lost to Ban in the ODI series. Hope they introspect instead of making silly statements #IndvWI
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) August 13, 2023
India would feel the heat for not being able to close out the opening T20I in Trinidad when they required 37 off the last 5 overs with six wickets in hand and yet felt short by 4. It was also a defeat that highlighted a couple of chinks in what is an otherwise very promising, exuberant side: lack of batting depth with no capable No.8 and a longish tail, and also the absence of an off-spinner to overcome left-hand match-ups in the opposition, which meant Nicholas Pooran could feast of Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal throughout the series.
