Hardik Pandya issues an official statement after being booed by Mumbai Indians' fans at the Wankhede Stadium

Published - 02 Apr 2024, 12:55 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 10:24 PM

Rohit Sharma asks crowd not to boo Hardik Pandya
Rohit Sharma asks crowd not to boo Hardik Pandya [PC: X/Twitter]

After suffering a 3rd consecutive loss in the Indian Premier League 2024, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya took to X (formerly Twitter) to make an appreciation post for his team. Under his captaincy for just the 3rd match, MI suffered another shambolic loss, this time by 6 wickets to the hands of Rajasthan Royals last night.

The 5-time champions were expected to come out with a win in their first home game of the season at Wankhede but what transpired was shocking to see.

Watch Hardik Pandya’s post on X

Morale, confidence, and motivation levels are expected to go down within the MI dressing room but Hardik Pandya has not given up yet. He took to X earlier today and wrote, If there’s one thing you should know about this team, we never give up. We’ll keep fighting, we’ll keep going.”

Hardik Pandya’s message is very simple and crystal clear. That Mumbai Indians might be down and out, experiencing a very poor start to the season but the team knows very well how to make a comeback from difficult situations. Its nothing new to them and this road is definitely one the one they have taken many a times previously.
But the thing for Hardik Pandya at the moment is that he is going through this phase of captaincy for the first time in his career. Previously, since he took charge of captaincy in Indian Premier League with the Gujarat Titans during the 2022 season, Pandya had it all easy or in simple words, it was all roses and daffodils for him.
In his first two season with GT, Pandya first led the team towards the IPL title in only their maiden appearance whereas last year, Pandya and co. were just a step away from entering the history books. MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings had denied Gujarat from defending the title last year in the final at the Narendra Modi stadium.
At the moment, Hardik Pandya is not able to keep his team together but it also has a lot to do with the way his players are behaving with him. When Mumbai lost last night’s game by 6-wickets in Wankhede, Pandya was seen sitting in the dugout chairs, all alone with none of his teammates be it senior or junior not coming down to say a few words of support to him.
Head coach Mark Boucher, who went all in to bring him back before the auction, was not even seen there when Hardik Pandya was going through such a bad time.

MI to welcome DC up next

Meanwhile, after beating Rajasthan Royals by 6-wickets, Mumbai Indians will now welcome Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede stadium up next in their following league match. The match will take place on 7th April, Sunday, in the first match of the double header weekend. Delhi will be playing against the Kolkata Knight Riders before visiting Mumbai and it will be interesting to see how MI plan for DC who picked up a first win of the season against Chennai Super Kings 2 days ago.

Tagged:

Hardik Pandya IPL 2024 Mumbai Indians (MI) Rohit Sharma
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