Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The captain of Mumbai Indians (MI), Hardik Pandya, has been getting booed vehemently, on the field since the beginning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. With that in mind, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has sprung into action, to protect Hardik Pandya from potential harassment from fans at the Wankhede Stadium when MI takes on RR on April 1.
The reason for criticism for Hardik Pandya stems from the fact that he replaced Rohit Sharma in the captaincy role for Mumbai Indians, which didn’t sit well with a lot of fans. When Hardik Pandya was in the middle at toss time for their first match of the IPL 2024 season, the chorus of boos echoed at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from the GT fans, who showcased their disapproval of him moving away from their team to MI.
Although, nothing changed for Hardik Pandya on his trip to Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, where the boos for him were just as loud when Mumbai Indians took on Sunrisers Hyderabad. The back-to-back losses in the first two matches of the IPL 2024 season isn’t going to help Hardik Pandya in silencing his naysayers either.
With the first home match for Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium fast approaching, the MCA has decided to monitor the conduct of the crowd towards Hardik Pandya. The report from Lokmat Marathi detailed the matter, “MCA has bolstered security and will closely monitor the crowd during the match. Anyone caught harassing or trolling Pandya will be detained and potentially ejected from the stadium. Still, police have the considerable challenge of containing Pandya’s critics among the spectators before Mumbai’s first home game against the Rajasthan Royals.”
Moreover, MI will look forward to putting up a better performance against RR at the Wankhede Stadium, in comparison to their first couple of matches in the IPL 2024, to give the captain Hardik Pandya his first win in the top job.
