Captain Hardik Pandya of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024© AFP
Hardik Pandya’s appointment as captain of the Mumbai Indians ahead of the IPL 2024 resulted in a huge controversy among pundits and fans alike, and things have not improved as the five-time champions slumped to three consecutive defeats in the competition. Hardik ended Rohit Sharma’s ten-year tenure as MI skipper after completing a trade from Gujarat Titans and the public’s reaction to him was less than desirable. He was booed in the first three matches, including a home match at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium – an incident that led to commentator Sanjay Manjrekar asking the crowd to ‘behave’.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan recently spoke on the subject and said it was “mind-boggling” to see the cricket-mad Indian fanbase booing one of their own.
“The big debate is whether Rohit Sharma will become captain again. That has caused a lot of drama here in India. The cheering… I must say that the Indian crowd loves cricket. I’ve never heard them cuff. I’ve certainly never heard them curse at any of their own. I get cheers when he played in (Ahmedabad) against the Gujarat Titans. He left them and joined Mumbai. He took them to a title. So I understand that in a pantomime kind of way.”
“But for him to go to Hyderabad and be booed and then come to Wankhede and be booed by the Mumbai Indians fans while playing for them, that blows my mind. I have never seen the Indian crowd booing one of their own. It’s remarkable,” Vaughan said on the Club Prairie Fire podcast with former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.
Responding to this, Gilchrist pointed out that the controversy and reactions from the fans indicate Rohit’s popularity and support among the fanbase.
“It shows you the status that Rohit Sharma has there in the game. The mysterious way it all played out initially, the pace at which it happened, everyone was stunned when Mumbai poached Hardik Pandya from Gujarat and Rohit subsequently gave up the captaincy. It’s a strange one. But this is the nature of the beast in the IPL. The tribalism and intensity within the fan bases. It’s hard to replicate that level of intensity anywhere else,” Gilchrist explained.
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