Kolkata Police call Hardik Pandya a scammer amid Mumbai Indians captaincy saga

Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya isn’t having the greatest of time in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Ever since he replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of the five-time champions, he has been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism by the fans both at the Stadium as well as on social media.

Hardik Pandya isn’t getting a great welcome from the fans in the Stadium as he has been greeted with a lot of boos as well as the “Rohit Rohit” chants. Apart from this, he so far has failed to make an impact with bat and ball and also his captaincy came under a lot of scanner in the two games that Mumbai played.

Hardik Pandya hasn’t been impressive with the ball as was taken a lot of runs in both the games. With the bat too, he had an opportunity to win games for his team but he struggled to get going and failed to set the stage on fire in both the games against Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Many fans and experts were critical of his leadership during the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where Mumbai Indians conceded 277 runs. The all-rounder was questioned a lot for his tactics, especially the usage of Jasprit Bumrah, who didn’t get a new ball in both games.

There has been a lot of hate for Hardik Pandya and even Kolkata Police seized an opportunity to take a dig at him. They created a social media awareness post, urging people to not scan QR codes. They used the pictures of Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma to depict the same.

Kolkata Police touted Rohit Sharma as a bank account whereas they called Hardik Pandya a scammer. Their social media post raised a lot of eyebrows and it was getting viral on the internet within minutes as the Police department posted on their Twitter account.

Here’s the post:

#QRCodes #upi #RohitSharma𓃵 #HardikPandya pic.twitter.com/jAZqPc7YCt

— Kolkata Police (@KolkataPolice) March 29, 2024

🫣 pic.twitter.com/A77eq0QlXF

— BCCI17🧊 (@imYadavGulshan) March 29, 2024

Hardik Pandya will be having a great opportunity to reply to his critics with his performances in the rest of the tournament. The all-rounder needs to stand tall for his team and lead from the front. If he returns to his best, Mumbai Indians no doubt will look altogether a different team.

Hardik Pandya is in the middle of a challenging time – Steve Smith

Steve Smith, who is part of the broadcasting team for the IPL 2024, believes that it’s a challenging time for Hardik Pandya. He expressed his concerns over the  crowd’s reaction at the Wankhede Stadium for an all-rounder in MI’s next game and stated:

“Hardik is in the middle of a challenging time, losing the first two games of their IPL season. It’s a big one for him. He’s filling big shoes with Rohit Sharma, who’s been the most successful captain [with Dhoni] in IPL history, lifting five titles, and it hasn’t started well for him.

“So he’s under a little bit of pressure at the moment and it’ll be interesting to see what the reception’s like in their first home game at Wankhede in a couple of days. We have heard a few boos going around at the grounds, which… that’s been disappointing from my aspect. But I’m intrigued to see what the reception’s like in Mumbai. We know how big a star Rohit is and how much he is loved inside that stadium.”

Mumbai Indians will be next seen in action when they take on Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium on 1st April.