Hardik Pandya's troubles seem to be mounting every day in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
After receiving flak from millions of fans for replacing Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians captain, Pandya suffered a hat-trick of defeats in IPL 2024 in his first three games and his team is now languishing in last place on the points table.
Disastrous start to IPL 2024
MI remains the only team which is yet to win and now Pandya might be attracting more trouble as netizens are claiming that his motivational speech after MI's second defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad last week was allegedly copied.
Some users on X have shared a clip of Pandya's speech along with a motivational speaker's address with both speaking the exact same words.
Pandya's dressing room speech
"The toughest soldiers get the toughest test. And we are the toughest team in the competition. Anyone who could have come even close to where we reached, as a batting group or just overall as Mumbai Indians are us.
"Something I'm really proud of is our bowlers. Even when the day was tough I didn't see anyone running away. Everyone wanted the ball and I think that's a good sign. So let's make sure we help each other throughout whatever happens. Worst, bad, good, we will manage it together and we'll be together," Pandya had told his players after the 31-run defeat at the Wankhede Stadium on March 27.
But these words were allegedly spoken by a foreign motivational speaker, the name of whom remains unclear. The video shared by users on X shows Pandya repeating the exact words spoken by the speaker with both their audios in the background.
Interestingly, while we cannot verify the authenticity of the clip posted on social media, it must be noted that MI have deleted the video of Pandya's speech which they had posted after their defeat against SRH.
MI will next face the Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 7.
