'I'm Not Result Oriented': Says Hardik Pandya Ahead of their Clash Against LSG

A Disastrous Campaign For Mumbai

Mumbai Indians (MI) will end one of their worst Indian Premier League (IPL) campaigns with a home fixture against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday and will hope to end their sorry campaign with a win to bring some cheer to their fans who are angry and disappointed.

One of the most debated aspects of MI's dismal show has been the captaincy of Hardik Pandya, who took over the reins from Rohit Sharma ahead of this season, after getting traded in by Mumbai from Gujarat Titans.

Hardik led Gujarat to their maiden title in their debut IPL season itself in 2022 and finished runners-up in 2023. But with MI he just managed to win only 4 games out of 13 matches so far this season, which led to the ouster of five-time champions.

He spoke about his leadership ahead of Friday's match.

I think my captaincy is simple, said Hardik on the video clip of the 'Captains Speak' segment shared by Star Sports on 'X'. It's just Hardik Pandya playing with 10 other of his teammates. The mantra is simple. Looking after the players, you give them the confidence, you give them the belief, you give them the love. They will go out and give more than 100 percent and that's something I ask for.

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On his personal performance as well, Hardik didn't have an IPL to remember. Going into MI's last match of the season, Hardik, who has been named vice-captain of India's T20 World Cup squad, has scored only 200 runs in 12 innings at an average of just 18.18. He has bowled in 11 of Mumbai's 13 matches, taking 11 wickets with a best of 3 for 31 and an economy rate of 10.58.

I am not someone who is result-oriented, but I am definitely approach-oriented. (I see) what kind of approach they (players) are showing, and if I feel that is suiting the team, I think somewhere down the line it helps the team..., the 30-year-old all-rounder added.

While MI are knocked out of the race to playoffs, LSG's hopes are only mathematically hanging by a thread going into their final game of the season.