Star wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is confident that the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya will win the fans all over again. Notably, Pandya has been receiving a lot of criticism from fans ever since he replaced Rohit Sharma as MI captain before the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Pandya has faced consistent boos from spectators inside the stadium and social media platforms also. Hardik has been facing a really tough time as the captain of the five-time IPL champions. The all-rounder was booed across the venues at which the Mumbai-based franchise has played so far. On one occasion, Hardik's name was called out before the toss which led to Sanjay Manjrekar, who was conducting the toss, told the crowd to ‘behave’. The trend of boo continued on April 11 as MI took on Faf du Plessis’ Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). But he also found a small corner of supporters as MI registered a win over RCB by seven wickets.
Ishan Kishan on Hardik Pandya
While speaking at the post-match presentation, Kishan said that Hardik is someone who loves challenges and he has been in this situation before.
“He (Pandya) loves challenges, he has been in this situation before and he is in that situation right now. He is not someone who will come out and talk about it and say let’s stop this or that,” Kishan told.
“I know that he must be enjoying it. I know him personally. I have spent a lot of time with him. He is ready for the challenges because you cannot complain to the fans, they will come up with their explanations and their point of view,” Kishan added.
Kishan also said that fans will start loving Hardik once again as they tend to acknowledge the dedication and effort of a cricketer.
“But knowing how Hardik Pandya thinks, he is happy with people doing it but I know that in the coming games, he will do it with the bat and people will start loving him (again),” he said.
“People also recognise your hard work, what you are going through and still you are doing so well for your team. I think people do recognise that."
Notably, Hardik and MI will next be in action against Ruturaj Gaikwad's Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 14 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
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