Hardik Pandya was booed in Ahmedabad© BCCI/Sportzpics
New Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya had a night to forget as the 5-time champions suffered a 6-run defeat against his former side Gujarat Titans on Sunday. Hardik, leading MI in his first match as skipper, was also booed by fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The jeers even got the commentators talking, with ex-England captain Kevin Pietersen admitting to be surprised as it was the first time he was coming across such an incident involving an Indian player.
“I have never seen any Indian player getting booed like they are booing Hardik Pandya here in Ahmedabad. This is a rare happening,” he said in the commentary box.
West Indies legend Ian Bishop, who was also present in the commentary box, was baffled hearing the boos too as he asked “What can he do to win them back?”
Brian Lara, a legend of the game, decided to respond to Bishop’s query as he said: “Play for India….the next time they play here,” as Bishop and Pietersen were left laughing loudly.
Though the match ended in a defeat for Mumbai, Hardik said it wasn’t an issue as 13 more games were left to be played in the league campaign. “Obviously we back ourselves to chase those 42 runs (in the last five overs) but it was one of those days where we see the score quite less in those last five overs, we lost a bit of momentum there,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“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.” When asked about Varma’s refusal to run a single, the skipper said, “I think Tilak felt that was a better idea at that point of time. I completely back him. Not an issue, (we have) 13 games to go,” he added.
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