Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya continues to face flak from Mumbai Indians fans despite the team returning to winning ways.Virat Kohli was not happy with the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium booing Hardik Pandya when he came out to bat during the IPL 2024 match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians on Thursday. The decision to appoint Hardik as the Mumbai Indians skipper in place of Rohit Sharma ahead of the competition was not received well by the fans and following three consecutive losses, there were a section of spectators who previously booed Hardik.
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya still encounters rough treatment from Mumbai crowd
Virat Kohli appeared disappointed as he heard boos welcome Hardik Pandya when the MI captain joined Suryakumar Yadav in the middle in the 12th over of their 197-run chase. Kohli appeared to gesture that Hardik plays for the country and that he didn’t deserve such a reception from the crowd at the Wankhede. Hardik has been at the receiving end of loud boos from fans, who are yet to come to terms with the change in captaincy at MI. While Rohit Sharma was cheered for every shot that he played on Thursday, Hardik found the going tough, in terms of reception from the fans.
Kohli was quick to react as he stopped the spectators from booing and in a video going viral on social media, he can also be seen reminding them that Hardik is an Indian cricket team player.
The result was almost instantaneous as a section of the crowd started chanting “Hardik, Hardik” and the MI skipper responded to the cheering with a first-ball six against Will Jacks.
Hardik Pandya was not booed so much at the toss, unlike their first home game earlier in the month. In their game against the Royals on April 1, Hardik was booed loudly at the toss and broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar stepped in and urged the crowd to “behave”.
On Thursday, the first boos for Hardik Pandya came when he walked into bowl for the first time after the 2nd match of the IPL 2024 season. However, the loudest boos came when he walked out to bat – a sight that did not please Virat Kohli.
During the chase, Pandya was once again exposed to the hate of the MI supporters who welcomed him with unruly behaviour. Amid loud booing, it was Virat Kohli who requested the fans at the Wankhede Stadium to stop it, gesturing them to cheer for the Mumbai Indians skipper.
But not everyone was hooting against Pandya. There was a section of fans who cheered for the MI skipper. On the other hand, the all-rounder silenced the haters with a quick-fire 6-ball 21 as Mumbai defeated Bengaluru by 7 wickets.
Bumrah weaved his magic en route to a five-wicket haul before Karthik played a blinder in the death overs to take RCB close to 200. In a contest where his fellow pacers erred consistently, Bumrah’s accuracy and mastery over variation helped him rule the roost once again.
RCB huffed and puffed but put up a challenging 196/8 courtesy skipper Faf du Plessis (61), Rajat Patidar (50) and Dinesh Karthik’s 23-ball 53 not out but the total proved to be far from enough.
Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan provided the fireworks with the bat after Bumrah’s heroics. The wicketkeeper-batter went ballistic to make 69 off just 34 balls while Suryakumar dazzled with a 19-ball 52 with four sixes and five fours, as Mumbai Indians overhauled RCB’s 197-run target in just 15.3 overs.