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Former Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Hardik Pandya was booed by fans at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. On his Mumbai Indians (MI) captaincy debut, Hardik was booed several times as he was shown on the big screen in the stadium. On the contrary, the crowd chanted former MI skipper Rohit Sharma’s name.
On his homecoming, Hardik won the toss and opted to bowl first against Shubman Gill’s side.
“Feels good to be back. My birthplace is Gujarat, a lot of success came in Gujarat, very grateful to the crowd and this state. My cricketing birth happened in Mumbai, so really good to be back,” the all-rounder said at the coin toss.
Former England cricketer-turned-commentator Kevin Pietersen was amused by the crowd's response as he said, "When was the last time an Indian cricketer was booed in India? This is a rare happening.”
The Baroda-born all-rounder opened the bowling for MI. He conceded 11 runs including one boundary each off openers Gill and Wriddhiman Saha. In his next over, Saha hit two consecutive fours. He brought himself back into the attack in the 15th over. Pandya conceded 30 runs from three overs and remained wicketless.
Bumrah, Coetzee restrict GT
However, he contributed to one of Jasprit Bumrah's three wickets by taking David Miller's catch. MI managed to restrict GT's score to 168/6. as Bumrah was economical in his four overs conceding just 14 runs. Gerald Coetzee made a good comeback too. The South African speedster took a couple of wickets and conceded 27 runs from four overs on his IPL debut. Debutant Naman Dhir was exceptional in the field. He took an excellent catch in the final over bowled by Coetzee to dismiss Rahul Tewatia.
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