A now familiar scene was repeated at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, when captain Hardik Pandya of the IPL side was booed by the crowd. Ever since he replaced Rohit Sharma as MI skipper after returning to his original franchise after two seasons at the helm of the Gujarat Titans (GT), Hardik Pandya has faced jeers and boos from a section of fans while also faced criticism from former Indian players.
Adding to his woes, the five-time IPL champion got off to the worst possible start this season, losing his lung opener to GT and also going down at second place against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Video of Pandya being booed went viral. England World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan said in Jio Cinema: “I’ve never seen a home captain booed like that.”
Hardik Pandya is booed by the crowd and how. It was really bad and loud… This should end now. Kab tak yahi hoga?#IPL2024 #MIvsRR pic.twitter.com/itP8CEfBAi
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) April 1, 2024
After being booed by the fans in Hyderabad, the MI skipper did not receive a warm welcome at the home ground, Wankhede Stadium, as fans continued the trend of booing the all-rounder.
Sanjay Manjrekar, former India player and cricket commentator, asked the Wankhede crowd to ‘behave’ as fans booed Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya during the toss against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League ( IPL) 2024 season on Monday.
When Manjrekar introduced Hardik as the MI skipper, the fans did not shy away from expressing themselves as they booed the 30-year-old.
While introducing the captains of both teams during the toss, Manjrekar asked the crowd to “behave” as they continued to boo the newly appointed MI skipper for the third consecutive match.
“With the two captains with me, Captain Hardik Pandya of Mumbai Indians, a big round of applause, ladies and gentlemen. Behave yourself!’ Manjrekar said in a video posted by IPL on X.
According to news agency PTI, Rohit at that time, in his training gear, met his former teammate Harbhajan Singh, who was on the field as one of the commentators covering the pre-match show.
As if that wasn’t enough, Pandya once again found himself at the receiving end of the crowd’s displeasure, especially from Sachin Tendulkar’s stands as he went out to bat with his team reeling at 20/4 in the fourth over.
Moreover, according to officials here, the fans were allowed into the stadium only after their banners were seized due to an Election Commission directive given to the Mumbai Police.
However, there was an element of miscommunication and misinterpretation as the directive was about not allowing political banners, but fans took to social media to complain about the removal of all banners.
However, there were still some fans who were able to carry their banners inside.
With ANI and PTI inputs
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