Picture Credit: X/IPL
Former Gujarat Titans (GT) captain and now the Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya has not received a warm welcome after he took over the reigns from MI’s most successful captain Rohit Sharma. Hardik Pandya was traded ahead of IPL 2024 auction from GT and was then named the skipper of the side. The 30-year-old all-rounder received boos from fans wherever he has gone so far in the IPL 2024.
In MI’s opening game against GT, which was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, he was booed at the toss. A similar scenario occurred when MI visited Hyderabad for their away fixture against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and then when they reached their home turf in Mumbai for match against Rajasthan Royals (RR). After series of incident occurred, former Australia captain Michael Clarke offered to speak to the MI skipper.
After his conversation with Pandya, Clarke opened up on his interaction adding that Hardik will not let the outside noise hamper his game. “It doesn’t help when your team is not performing. I spoke to Hardik Pandya when I got over here and he seems like he is going fine. He’s a really confident sort of a person. He won’t allow this to get to him but he does need to get this team winning games of cricket. Mumbai is such a good team and there’s always high expectations. The fan wants them at the top of the tree, but at the moment they are at the bottom,” Clarke said to ESPNcricinfo.
In MI’s last match, where they hosted RR at the Wankhede Stadium, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar also warned the spectators for their actions as he was loud enough to say “Behave”. Not only Manjrekar, but even the former MI skipper Rohit Sharma asked fans to not boo at Hardik, video of which went viral.
The five-time champions Mumbai Indians will face Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, April 7 in an afternoon clash.
