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The newly appointed Mumbai Indians (MI) Hardik Pandya faced boos from the Ahmedabad crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium just before their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024's encounter against Gujarat Titans (GT). During the toss, a wave of boos greeted the new Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya, as he entered the field. Bold chants of ‘Rohit, Rohit’ echoed and reverberated around the stadium to show support for the former MI skipper Rohit Sharma. The boos persisted even after Hardik won the toss and addressed the crowd during the toss.
Hardik Pandya booed by Ahmedabad crowd
Kevin Pietersen amazed by Pandya's booing episode
Meanwhile, veteran English cricketer and commentator Kevin Pietersen was left shocked by the crowd's reaction towards Hardik Pandya. While doing commentary during GT versus MI match, he said that in his experience he had never witnessed such treatment directed at an Indian player before.
"I have never seen any Indian player getting booed like they are booing Hardik Pandya here in Ahmedabad. This is a rare happening," Pietersen said on air.
Mumbai Indians' puzzling batting decisions at the death overs cost them dearly as Shubman Gill, in his captaincy debut for the Gujarat Titans, led his team to a thrilling six-run victory in the IPL opener on March 24. Jasprit Bumrah dazzled in his return to the IPL after two years, taking 3 wickets for just 14 runs with his signature yorkers, restricting the Gujarat Titans to a modest 168/6. However, Bumrah's brilliance wasn't enough. Youngster Tilak Varma and skipper Hardik Pandya couldn't capitalize on his bowling heroics. With just 43 runs needed from the last five overs and seven wickets in hand, a dramatic collapse saw Mumbai Indians crumble, eventually ending at 162/9. This loss extends their unwanted streak of losing their opening IPL match, with their last victory coming against the Chennai Super Kings way back in 2012.
Pandya, however, revealed what cost MI the match against GT. In his post-match interview with the broadcasters, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya pinpointed the specific moment where the game swung in GT's favor.
“Obviously, we backed ourselves to chase those 42 runs but it was one of those days when we see the score quite less compared to what it could have been in five overs, I think we lost a little bit of momentum there,” Pandya said after the match.
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“It feels good to be back because this is one stadium where you can enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively and obviously the crowd was full and they got a good game as well. (On Tilak not taking the single vs Rashid) I think Tilak felt that that was a better idea at that point of time, I completely back him, not an issue, 13 games to go,” Hardik Pandya further added.
MI will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 27 while GT will be up against Chennai Super Kings on March 26.
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