As Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya left the field to toss in Monday’s IPL match against Rajasthan Royals, booing fans began to resonate around Wankhede Stadium with chants of “Rohit… Rohit.”
Hardik Pandya witnessed the anger of the audience once more on another Mumbai Indians IPL day. Pandya has been the target of unheard-of levels of vitriol on social media and in the stands ever since taking over as MI captain from Rohit Sharma. The location this time was MI’s home field, Wankhede Stadium. Even as cries of “Rohit… Rohit” echoed throughout Wankhede Stadium, supporters began jeering the Mumbai Indians captain as he left for the toss in their IPL match against Rajasthan Royals on Monday.
By hitting six boundaries in a 21-ball 34 to take his team from 20/4 to 76/5 in the tenth over, Pandya, with the bat in hand, swiftly turned the jeers into applause. However, his entertaining knock came to an end.
Despite the negative reaction earlier in the evening, Pandya’s first four runs were met with loud cheers from everyone across the ground.
On the other hand, after being reduced to 125/9, Mumbai Indians lost the match by six wickets. The Mumbai Indians’ 29-year-old skipper, Pandya, has previously faced criticism from the supporters over the club’s leadership choices during its previous two away games in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. Pandya took over as captain of the team from Rohit Prior to the competition.
Before the toss, when Pandya was warming up by making his way around the field, he was jeered by several members of the crowd.
As loud chants in favor of former Mumbai captain Rohit filled the stadium, the flashy all-rounder was jeered once more when his name was called at the time of the toss. Pandya met this with a simple smile.
After losing the toss to Sanju Samson, the captain of the Rajasthan Royals, Pandya started ranting, drawing more jeers, which prompted host Sanjay Manjrekar to encourage the audience to “behave”.
At that precise moment, Rohit was greeting his former teammate Harbhajan Singh, who was there at the field as a pundit for the pre-match show, while he was still wearing his training kit.
If the unrelenting jeers weren’t enough, Pandya was subjected to more taunts from the fans when he came out to bat with his team trailing 20/4 in the fourth over, particularly from the Sachin Tendulkar stand.
Later, a video appeared in which Rohit appeared to be pleading with the audience to refrain from jeering his successor.
“The day Hardik wins a game for MI by making a significant contribution, he will be greeted as a hero at the Wankhede! Wankhede will soon shout ‘Navratri maa Daandiya, Wankhede maa Pandya’,” said Nish Navalkar, a ‘North Stand Gang’ member at the renowned venue.
Furthermore, according to officials here, fans were only permitted inside the stadium after their banners were confiscated in response to an electoral commission mandate issued to the Mumbai police.
However, there was an element of confusion and misinterpretation because the instruction prohibited political banners, but supporters complained on social media that all banners had been removed.
