Mumbai Indians controversially appointed captain, Hardik Pandya, has been facing the wrath of the fans in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
Pandya was once again ‘booed’ prior to the 14th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 16 when his name was called out during the toss time.
Ex-cricketer and current commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar, spoke Hardik’s name in the microphone which resulted in an echo of boos from the supporters as they aren’t satisfied with the Mumbai franchise handing the captaincy to the all-rounder instead of the mainstay, Rohit Sharma.
‘Behave’ was the word used by Manjrekar when the supporters showed displeasure towards the MI captain. Hardik started smiling as a result of not getting the approval from his home supporters as the match was being contested at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
The cricket fraternity was left confused when Mumbai decided to hand over the franchise captaincy to Hardik, instead of Rohit who had been leading the franchise since 2013.
Rohit is MI’s most successful captain, having won five IPL titles, with no other MI leader winning one.
Hardik won the IPL 14 title as the captain of Gujrat Titans which led to MI drafting him back to the squad this season. He had a win percentage of 70.96% with the GT franchise, but this didn’t guarantee the Mumbaikar’s giving a warm (re)welcome to the all-rounder.
To further the confusion, Rohit is expected to lead the Indian team at the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, which was initially supposed to be led by Pandya, so one can only imagine the atmosphere inside the dressing room during the major event.
🚨 Toss 🚨@rajasthanroyals win the toss and elect to bowl against @mipaltan #TATAIPL | #MIvRR pic.twitter.com/pziDfHNIci
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 1, 2024
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