Former India legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who had led the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their first-ever IPL final in 2009, mocked MI captain Hardik Pandya during toss time. Kumble, who is a part of the Jio Cinema English commentary entourage, was present at the studio when he cracked a joke on Pandya which also intrigued a laugh from AB de Villiers and host Suhail Chandok.
After winning the coin toss at the Narendra Modi stadium last night, Hardik Pandya asked Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill to bat first. Ravi Shastri, who was facilitating the coin toss last night, after asking the reason for his decision, told Pandya to shed light on his team combination for the match. As we all know, teams have been preparing two different playing XIs since last season with captains usually forgetting all the names in the eleven.
Hardik Pandya was no exception. He must have forgotten the names and told Ravi Shastri that his team has 11 players – 4 bowlers and then 6 batters before he left for the dressing room. That intrigued reaction from Anil Kumble in the Jio Cinema studio who later mocked Hardik Pandya for saying so.
Kumble says he would never Hardik Pandya to say the names
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After the toss was done, the camera frame shifted to the studio where Chandok was just saying that Hardik Pandya was done with the toss before Anil Kumble said, “he has”. The legendary leg-spinner, who retired after claiming 619 Test wickets, stated that he never expects Pandya to remember his players’ names.
He then stated that people wanted to know the names instead of wanting to know if there were 11 fielders, 4 fast bowlers, and 5 batsmen. Ab De Villiers, who was a part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team which reached its 2nd and 3rd final in 2011 and 2016, couldn’t help but laugh along with his co-workers.
“But I would never expect Hardik to tell us the names as well. 4 bowlers, 4 fast bowlers, 3 spinners, 5 batters, 11 fielders, yeah we all know that, who are those?” – Anil Kumble said via Jio Cinema.
Meanwhile, on his return to the Narendra Modi stadium last night, the only thing Hardik Pandya received from the crowd was loud and non-stop jeers, boos and jibes. Whether he was speaking during the toss time when he came to bowl or when he arrived at the crease to bat, the crowd showed no love to the player who was the first captain of the franchise.
The crowd did not show love or a pinch of respect to the player who led the team towards their first IPL title in only their first attempt in 2022. The only thing that will affect Pandya is the fact that MI wasn’t able to clinch victory and lead the 5-time champions towards their first victory at the venue.
Hardik Pandya and co now shift focus to Hyderabad
Meanwhile, after continuing their trend of losing all of the 1st matches of the new season since the 2013 edition, Hardik Pandya and his Mumbai Indians will travel to Hyderabad. MI will be up against World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium on March 27.
