IPL 2024: Booing continues for Hardik Pandya at the Wankhede Stadium

To say that Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has been under pressure is an understatement Replacing a fivetime IPLwinning captain like Rohit Sharma was never going to be easy Then to suffer two backtoback and comprehensive defeats in the first two IPL games of the season added to his woesAnd the fact that those defeats were peppered with some startling decisions like opening the bowling with South African rookie Kwena Maphaka in place of pace ace Jasprit Bumrah and not using Bumrah effectively and demoting himself down the batting order made life even more difficult for skipper PandyaHardik PandyaMI fans are clearly unhappy with the change in captaincy and as expected made their feelings amply clear when they booed him at the Wankhede Stadium at the toss for the match against Rajasthan Royals on Monday India batsmanturnedcommentator Sanjay Manjrekar had to literally ask the crowd to ldquobehaverdquo as the booing filled the iconic venueAlso Read IPL 2024 Mayank to face Bengalurus stars at Chinnaswamy StadiumSmiling all the wayPandya though was seemingly calm and smiling throughout In fact he kept that smile on even for the hourlong prematch practice routine He bowled a bit during the session under the watchful eyes of head coach Mark Boucher before eagerly running across the ground to greet some of the RR players with a broad smile and hugsMumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya during his 21ball 34 v RR at Wankhede yesterday PicPTIHe even met the match officials with a smile before sprinting across to the other end of the ground to greet India playersturnedcommentators Harbhajan Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhumdashall this while keeping that smile intactOne couldnrsquot help but recall the iconic track from the 1983 Bollywood Classic Arth lsquoTum itna jo muskura rahe ho kya gham hai jisko chupa rahe horsquo you are smiling so much what is the grief that you are hidingToss lostPandya lost the toss and was forced to bat on a pacy Wankhede track where by his own admission he preferred to bowl first Not one to rue his luck though Pandya did well with some responsible batting display on the night Coming in with MI on the mat at 204in 33 overs Pandya was greeted with an accurately quick Nandre Burger yorker which he did well to dig out with his head down Thereafter he continued to keep that head down and work for his runs replacing his otherwise flamboyant strokeplay with some wellcontrolled shots as he began accumulating both runs and MI fans in the bargain He didnrsquot last very long 34 runs off 21 balls with six fours but it was a knock acknowledged by their fans Thatrsquos the reason not a single MI fan booed Pandya on his way back to the dugout after he holed out to Rovman Powell in the deep off Yuzvendra ChahalNorth Stand Gang member Shashank Wagh 67 was among those MI fans who had a change of heart about Pandya ldquoThe fact that Rohit Sharma was out for a duck and Pandya tried to hang in there for the team turned the tide in his favour The Mumbai cricket fan is emotional but always thinks about the team and in this case Pandya tried his best to bat for the team No one booed him after he was out because everyone realised thisrdquo Wagh told midday at the Wankhede StadiumManish Gahlot 42 another MI fan added ldquoThe fact that Rohit failed also worked in Hardikrsquos favour Had Rohit scored a halfcentury Hardik would have definitely had a hard time with the fans But this was a collective batting failure for MI and Hardik alone could not be blamedrdquoExpert viewWell known psychiatrist Dr Devendra Save 52 aptly summed up the Hardik Pandya episode ldquoDifferent athletes have different ways of dealing with pressure situations stemming from public criticism Some get ultraaggressive but the most common method to suppress your anger or disappointment is to smile Hardik did exactly this when he stepped onto the Wankhede turf this evening He suppressed all his inner feelings with a constant smile Once things settled he put his head down to the batting and bowling aspect of things which obviously he is a professional at Consequently he won over the MI fansrdquo125MIrsquos total vs RR in their third straight poor show in IPL