Gautam Gambhir has emerged as a premier epitome of success after he propelled the Lucknow Super Giants during his tenure and elevated the Kolkata Knight Riders towards playoff glory. Gambhir has helped the team elevate towards new heights, and he has been a stringent critic over certain issues. GG recently called out AB de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen after they criticized all-rounder Hardik Pandya after he led the Mumbai Indians in a subpar run. To much of a surprise, former England cricketer Pietersen has humorously accepted Gautam's critics over social media.

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Kevin Pietersen responds to Gautam Gambhir's remark over captaincy accolades 

This year, Hardik Pandya has been an extreme point of criticism after he led the Mumbai Indians towards a disappointing campaign. Former cricketers turned analysts, Kevin Pietersen and AB de Villiers launched their criticism over Pandya and doubted his leadership skills throughout their IPL 2024 run. But KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir came out with an impactful retort, saying that the ones denouncing Pandya themselves have lamentable records and criticized their capabilities as skipper.

"Judging him every day, every match, everything is not right. Those experts who have criticised him, they should see their own performances when they have captained a side. Whether it’s AB de Villiers or Kevin Pietersen. I don't think in their career there is any performance of leadership, nothing. If you go and see their records, it’s worse than any other leader," Gambhir said.

Responding to Gautam Gambhir's criticism, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen took note of his retort and agreed to it on social media platform X (Formerly Twitter).

"He’s not wrong. I was a terrible captain!!!," Pietersen jokingly tweeted while agreeing with Gambhir's remarks.

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After AB de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen hit out on Hardik Pandya, Gautam Gambhir reminded them they hadn't delivered a commendable performance, and their records were worse than any other captain. He also remarked that Pandya is an IPL-winning captain, while they are not. He also lambasted ABD, who said that Pandya's captaincy stint with the Mumbai Indians was ego-driven.

The Mumbai Indians suffered an unfortunate exit from the IPL 2024 playoff season this year. The biggest point of debate was when Rohit Sharma was dropped as a skipper to make way for Pandya to lead the side. But things did not turn out the way they wanted to, as they were the first team to be kicked out of the cash-rich league's playoff race.