Mumbai Indians’ IPL match continues for another day and Hardik Pandya is feeling the wrath of the crowd yet again. Since replacing Rohit Sharma as Director General of Military Intelligence, Pandya has received unprecedented hate on social media and on the ground. This time it happened at the Wankhede Stadium, the home ground of MI. Fans started booing as the Mumbai Indians skipper left the field to throw the ball during an IPL match against Rajasthan Royals on Monday despite chants of “Rohit…Rohit” at Wankhede The stadium echoed.
But, with the bat in hand, Pandya managed to get the crowd on his side and soon put the jeers at ease as his side improved from 20/4 to 76/5 in a 21-ball 34 turned into cheers. Round 10, when his entertaining knock came to an end.
In fact, when Pandya smashed his first four, the cheers around the stadium were as loud as ever, a far cry from the hostile reception on the night.
However, the match was lost by six wickets after being restricted to 125/9. The 29-year-old Pandya succeeded Rohit as captain of the Mumbai Indians ahead of the World Cup, playing the team’s first two away games at Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
Pandya was booed by a section of the crowd when he was doing warm-up exercises on the field before the throw.
When the flamboyant all-rounder was booed again when his name was announced at the toss, Pandya just smiled while loud shouts of support for former Mumbai captain Rohit filled the venue.
When Pandya started speaking after losing to Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson, the jeers continued, forcing host Sanjay Manjrekar to ask the audience to “behave”.
At that moment, Rohit, in his training uniform, was meeting his former teammate Harbhajan Singh, who was on the field as one of the commentators for the pre-match show.
If the merciless boos were not enough, Pandya once again found himself at the receiving end of the crowd’s displeasure, especially in the Sachin Tendulkar stands, when he walked out to bat while trailing at 20/4 in the fourth over.
Later, a video emerged in which Rohit appeared to ask the crowd to stop booing his successor.
Rohit Sharma learns from Virat Kohli how to protect his players#IPL2024 #MIvsRRpic.twitter.com/QEOiiwjtH0
— Mayur (@133_AT_Hobart) April 1, 2024
Respect Rohit Sharma #RohitSharma𓃵 #HardikPandya https://t.co/le3b7pKyxb
— Cricklover (@kumarmanoj_11) April 1, 2024
“The day Hardik wins a match for MI by making huge contributions, he will walk into the Wankhede and get a hero’s welcome! The Wankhede will soon be chanting ‘Navratri maa Daandiya, Wankhede maa Pandya’,” Northern Alliance member Nish Navalkar said. at the iconic venue “Stand Gang”.
Furthermore, fans were allowed to enter the stadium only after the banners were confiscated as per instructions issued by the Election Commission to the Mumbai Police, according to local officials.
However, there was an element of miscommunication and misunderstanding as the directive was about not allowing political banners, but fans took to social media to complain that all the banners were taken away.
Still, some fans were able to get in with banners.
With PTI input
Topics mentioned in this article
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
