Another day in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, and once again Hardik Pandya felt the wrath of the crowd. Ever since he replaced Rohit Sharma as MI skipper, Pandya has received an unprecedented amount of hate on social media and on the ground. This time it happened at the Wankhede Stadium, home of MI. Fans started booing the Mumbai Indians skipper as he walked out for the toss in their IPL match against Rajasthan Royals on Monday, even as chants of ‘Rohit… Rohit’ echoed around the Wankhede Stadium.
But with bat in hand, Pandya managed to rally the crowd to his side, quickly turning the cheers into cheers with a half-dozen boundaries during a 21-ball 34, which took his team from 20/4 to 76/5 in the contest. 10th over, when his entertaining knock came to an end.
The cheers from all over the ground were as loud as ever as Pandya smashed his first four, a far cry from the hostile reception that night.
However, lost the match by six wickets after being restricted to 125/9. The 29-year-old Pandya, who replaced Rohit as Mumbai Indians captain in the run-up to the tournament, has already been subjected to the public’s wrath over the franchise’s leadership decision during the team’s previous two away matches in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
Pandya was booed by a section of the crowd before the toss as he took laps around the field in warm-up.
The flamboyant all-rounder was then booed again when his name was announced at the time of the toss, to which Pandya was all smiles as loud chants in support of former Mumbai skipper Rohit filled the venue.
The booing continued when Pandya started speaking after losing the toss to Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson, forcing anchor Sanjay Manjrekar to ask the audience to behave.
Just then, Rohit, in his training gear, met his former teammate Harbhajan Singh, who was on the field as one of the commentators doing the pre-match show.
As if the relentless booing 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 to bat with his team reeling at 20/4 in the fourth over.
Later, a video surfaced in which Rohit appeared to ask the audience to stop booing his successor.
Rohit Sharma learned from Virat Kohli how to protect his own players#IPL2024 #MIvsRRpic.twitter.com/QEOiiwjtH0
— Mayur (@133_AT_Hobart) April 1, 2024
Respect to Rohit Sharma #RohitSharma𓃵 #HardikPandya https://t.co/le3b7pKyxb
— Cricklover (@kumarmanoj_11) April 1, 2024
“The day Hardik wins a match for MI by making a big contribution, he will walk into the Wankhede for a hero’s welcome! Wankhede will soon sing ‘Navratri maa Daandiya, Wankhede maa Pandya’,” said Nish Navalkar, a member of the ‘ Northern Stand Gang’ at the iconic location.
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 PTI inputs
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