Mumbai Indians' new captain Hardik Pandya hasn't had a great start to the 2024 edition of the IPL personally as well as collectively. Hardik has made some poor decisions as a captain while his form too hasn't been great either with the bat or ball, however, did show some signs of returning to the usual best he is in the T20 format in the last game. However, the talking point of the three Mumbai Indians' games so far has been the negative reception for Hardik wherever Mumbai Indians have played so far, whether in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad or Mumbai.
Monday was on different despite the five-time champions playing a home game at the Wankhede Stadium as there was more love for Rohit and hostility and boos reserved for Hardik. The presenter at the toss, Sanjay Manjrekar even had to instruct the crowd to behave with the boos beginning as soon as Hardik's name was mentioned. Broadcaster, commentator and former India head coach Ravi Shastri urged the booing MI fans to think what they are doing empathetically since he is also a human being just like them.
"You have supported the team over the years. In just 2-3 matches, they won't be a bad team. They are 5-time champions, after all, they have a new captain. Just be patient, you know the bloke you're getting after is a human being like you. At the end of the day, he has to sleep in the night. So just think about it, be calm," Shastri told Star Sports throwing his weight behind the Indian all-rounder.
Shastri then advised Hardik to avoid the outside noise and urged him to focus on his performance. "My thing to Hardik would be ‘calm, patient, ignore and then just focus on your game’. You get a couple of performances going..they are a terrific side, if they win 3-4 matches, everything will subside. You will, things will change," Shastri added.
That was visible in Mumbai itself as the crowd which was booing him before the game, got behind him when he was the only one apart from Tilak Varma to score a few runs after Rajasthan Royals had their top order in tatters.
