Rajasthan Royals pacer Trent Boult on Sunday supported his former teammate Hardik Pandya to “block out the white noise” after the Mumbai Indians skipper found himself in the ongoing Indian cricket match Ahmedabad and Hyderabad were booed by the crowd in the league. This season, Pandya took over the MI captaincy from Rohit Sharma after returning from Gujarat Titans and the whole leadership change saga did not go down well with the fans. “It’s something you can’t control and as a professional athlete you’re exposed to it to some extent. You have to tune out the white noise and focus on the job, (but) it’s easier said than done,” Bolt Tell reporters. Media at Wankhede Stadium.

Bolt said the boos would eventually subside and backed Pandya not to get bogged down.

“There are a lot of passionate fans in this country, especially when it comes to Hardik, who is one of my favorite Indian cricketers and I don’t think the boos will last long. I am sure, he is one of those who can put it in aside, focus on work,” Bolt added.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians senior spinner Piyush Chawla said that once the team made another disappointing start in the first two games of the IPL, they are in their kitty Win and things change.

“Well, you can’t really help because, you know, they’re a group of people and everything they do is beyond our control, so we can’t really tell what they’re doing,” Jorah said.

Chawla claimed that Pandya was not affected.

“The way Hardik took it… he just focused on the game, he didn’t even worry about what the crowd was doing and once we got the win, things were completely different.”

The right-arm spinner said MI also wanted to focus on the job at hand rather than focusing on what fans are doing inside the stadium.

“You get used to it because you know that no matter what happens, no matter what people do in the crowd, you can’t really help it because it’s beyond our control.

“We just have to focus on our game and whatever they are doing, let them do it. We just have to focus on our cricket,” he said.

Chawla, however, hopes that “real” Mumbai fans will turn up at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday to support the team in its first home match of the season.

“Ultimately, it’s about the team, not about individuals. I really hope when the crowd comes tomorrow they will support the team after the start we’ve had,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)